The Dragon's Mantle
by Slightly Dazed Bystander
Summary: The Chasers' victory against Brevon was already against the odds. But when Lilac goes missing just hours later an orphaned Carol is left with the pieces. With the world against her once more can Carol recover? Or will a cruel galaxy crush her for having the temerity to take a stand? Can she pick up the dragon's mantle?
1. Recovery

Recovery

 _Warning: file corruption detected.  
Scanning…  
One file detected. Loading.  
Lilac. Hard. Deaths: 0 Health Remaining: 0. Last Stage: Final Dreadnought 4. Confirm Y/N  
-Y Warning: Difficulty set to hard. Proceed? Y/N  
\- -N. Loading difficulty settings. H/H/H/H  
\- - -H. Hard mode selected. Warning: damage received will be greater and enemies may use unpredictable attack patterns. Confirm. Y/N  
\- - - -Y Loading…  
Story file corrupted. Please select your character. L/C/M  
L. Lilac selected. Loading.  
Story file corrupted. Please select your character. L/C/M  
C. Carol selected. Loading…_

 _Resuming story…_

* * *

In the skies above Avalice a terrible, wonderful event was taking place.

Brevon had planned to steal the Kingdom Stone. If he had succeeded, he would have plunged the galaxy into an epoch of darkness. Worlds would have burned, entire races would have been exterminated, and the galaxy would have entered an age of oppression for decades to come. It had been a masterful plan, perfectly executed. And it had almost succeeded. But fate is fickle, and sometimes even the best plans fall to its capricious machinations. Brevon's plans for domination were now being eviscerated. Alongside his fleet and army.

Explosions tore through his capital ship from aft to stern. The two great solar wings collapsed as thousands of tonnes of metal sheared off. Their catastrophic departure left the orphaned tail section inadequately supported. Soon it too failed. The three pieces plunged into Avalice's atmosphere and erupted into flames. Their fiery fall from grace could be seen from across the three kingdoms. Only blackened shells remained to plunge into the icy wasteland below.

But the aft section's fate was most spectacular. Brevon's command section exploded into ten thousand glittering pieces. Though its owner escaped at the last minute, his dreams of conquest evaporated. They went up in a blast that was thousands of degrees hot.

The assembled armies of Avalice trembled as the three massive fragments broke the earth. The impact shook the very ground beneath them. Seasoned veterans threw themselves into each other's arms. Gigantic rifts scarred the valley floor. The burnt out wrecks of alien machinery lay scattered across the battlefield. Shuigang's hospitals would be busy all night with the injured. But there would be no further deaths that day.

The cheers could be heard from miles around.

A hundred warriors had died for Brevon's avarice. They would be mourned, especially by the kingdom that had suffered the most. Shuigang had been duped into supporting Brevon. Their soldiers now had to cope with the fact that they had been on the wrong side. Many families had already been informed. The capital was grieving.

But there had been thousands of soldiers involved in that battle. The three kingdoms had gotten out of it miraculously lightly. Countless warriors could have been dying slowly upon the glacier, crying out for help that would never arrive in time. The battle could even have been a bloody defeat, so superior was Brevon's technology.

Someone had drawn his attention. As the soldiers recovered they all asked the same question. What had created the miracle? Who had saved them?

Three children had saved the galaxy. Though technically one was a teenager. And there was this alien guy who helped too.

(He'd probably agree with that assessment.)

Very few members of the Avalician host knew of their existence. Dreadful anxiety gripped those few. The most important individuals in Avalice watched the skies. Their hearts were in their mouths. They needed to know what had befallen their heroes... and less romantically what had happened to the Kingdom Stone. Disaster might still have befallen Avalice. The leaders of the world were already implementing contingencies to mitigate the catastrophe the stone's loss would mean.

They needn't have worried for the former. The alien known as Commander Torque had led the operation. He'd made a plan that was water-tight, and he'd paid especially close attention to the escape. As Brevon fled the station in one direction, a small red ship left in the other.

All three girls were safely ensconced inside. Escape had been the easy part. One was gravely wounded, however. All were shaken. As Torque skilfully guided the ship away from Brevon's ill-fated vessel, two life-long friends were left to despondently recover in the transport bay.

It would be a sombre journey back to the planet's surface… 

* * *

Carol winced in pain as she held the ice bag to her head.

 _I'm an idiot. I should have seen that robot exploding from a mile away._

The green wildcat's head felt like it could explode any second, but the guilt was worse. They'd taken down Brevon's last war machine together. But it had come at a cost. A large chunk of the cockpit had blown off and struck Carol in the head. She'd been knocked unconscious immediately. Lilac had been left to fight Brevon atop the deck of his dreadnought. The weight of the entire world had come to rest on the dragon's shoulders.

 _I left Lilac on her own again... I broke my promise._

Lilac still hadn't said anything about what next transpired. Yet the final struggle had clearly been an awful one. Lilac had been injured during the fight. She'd done her level best to hide the extent from Carol, but Carol had already noticed the way she wasn't moving her arms from her abdomen. And she could see the ugly pockmarks that scarred her friend's hair tendrils. He'd hurt her. Again. And again Carol had been able to do nothing to stop it.

But this time Lilac had won. Sort of. If a result like this could be called a victory.

Carol shivered as she thought about what awful weapon Brevon must have used to make those marks. She remembered the horrid knife he'd used to transform Milla. She'd watched in horror as the small child had mutated into an abomination. She'd become a horrific, mutated scorpion that tried to kill them. They'd been forced to fight back. Carol could still remember her claws tearing through Milla's face. They'd almost killed her. Carol remembered them leaving her for dead. They'd been convinced she already was. It was only on the way out that Lilac had discovered a weak pulse.

 _"I would never have known to check."_ she thought miserably. _"If it had been me, she'd still be up there..._

Milla had loyally stuck by their side through thick and thin. She was only ten years old. Even Carol, at twelve, belatedly realised that she should never have been involved in the first place. Lilac had tried to leave her out of harms way, even as she'd struggled to cope herself. But they'd needed her. Carol owed Milla her life twice over. And this was how she'd repaid... Carol felt sick with guilt.

That nausea only got worse when she looked at Milla now. She lay motionless on a workstation table. It was the best hospital bed they could offer her. The steady drip of red petal essence was probably the only thing keeping her alive. She didn't breathe. Or if she did, neither Carol nor Lilac could detect it.

Yet they could still feel a weak pulse. Milla clung to life by a thread.

 _"Has Brevon's toxin changed her?"_ Carol wondered. _"Does she even need to breathe anymore?"_

She shuddered. At least that toxin hadn't been on the knife when Brevon had drawn it on Lilac...

 _"What was it all for?_ she asked herself bleakly.

Their mission was only half successful. Lilac had saved the galaxy. At least that's how Carol saw it. But for Avalice had anything really changed at all? They'd lost the Kingdom Stone.

They'd _lost_ the Kingdom Stone. Avalice's source of power and its spiritual heart. Carol couldn't even begin to comprehend the full implications of that. But it would be bad. Really, really bad. Were thousands of people going to die? And everyone's life be made harder?

Because they'd failed? Because _she'd_ failed?

Maybe Torque would help. He was an alien after all. Maybe there was some technology he could use to replace the irreplaceable. Carol would have been more convinced of that if Torque hadn't treated the stone like he had. The same way everyone on Avalice did; like a one of a kind treasure. Just one that could not be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. If the stone had been that important to Brevon, Carol doubted there was a replacement just lying around. They weren't going to find one in cold storage somewhere.

If she was younger, she could have fooled herself into believing everything was going to be ok. That there could still be a happy ending. But Carol was too old to be that naïve. She'd met Avalice's rulers for herself. She doubted there'd be peace for more than a second after the power went out.

 _"Maybe we should just slip away."_ a little voice in Carol's head whispered. _"Land somewhere in the wilderness and disappear."_ She doubted they'd receive a hero's welcome on landing.

 _"But where would we go?_

Every ruler in Avalice knew of their existence. If they tried to slip away, they'd be hunted across all three kingdoms. They'd be found. If they were caught fleeing, Carol doubted the pursuers would be sympathetic.

Wasn't thinking about problems like that Lilac's department? When had she started to think ahead? Maybe around about the time she'd realised Lilac wasn't perfect. No one else was either. Lilac and Torque were both older than Carol, and she'd looked to them for guidance. Yet every plan they'd made had fallen apart.

Carol had another concern, one that was far more immediate. Torque had had red petals ready and waiting when they'd returned from the station. They hadn't been much and most of them had gone towards keeping Milla alive. But it had at least been enough to close over most of Carol's head wound. She still felt like she had a second face growing out of her skull. But it could have been so much worse.

Lilac's injuries hadn't reacted to the treatment at all. That wasn't normal and it wasn't good. Carol's gut twisted every time she looked over.

Lilac had been dangerously quiet since they'd boarded the escape ship. She'd said a handful of things to Torque about what had happened. Since then she'd said maybe three words to Carol. Carol had heard about the mission's results from Torque.

Lilac sullenly studied the floor, only looking up to cast an anxious glance towards Milla. Carol got the feeling that Lilac was pointedly ignoring _her_. She didn't know how to feel about that. But eventually she decided that something had to be done. With her ice-pack still attached to her head, she gingerly stood up. Anxious, she closed the distance. She took a seat beside Lilac.

Lilac didn't respond. Neither of them spoke. They had a library of things to say, but neither girl was ready to begin talking.

Then Carol noticed something that scared her half to death.

"Lilac, you're _bleeding_!"

Lilac winced. She'd clearly been trying to hide that. But as usual she'd set herself an impossible task. She couldn't disguise the red trail that ran down her left hair tendril. And she couldn't hide her pain. She didn't look up. Carol could see a lost, almost misty look in her eyes.

She didn't like that.

"Lilac!"

Lilac finally snapped to attention as Carol shouted at her. Reluctantly she focussed. Her eyes met Carol's properly. But only for a second. Lilac wavered and looked away almost immediately. She returned to staring at the floor. Carol's heart twisted as she saw the troubled look on Lilac's face.

She wasn't having it. Lilac needed to pay some attention to her injuries. Carol's face and voice hardened. She couldn't keep the anger and disgust out of her voice.

"Did Brevon do that to you?"

Lilac shivered. Carol immediately regretted mentioning Brevon. It was obvious Lilac didn't want to think about the monster. He'd nearly murdered her twice. Carol wilted slightly as she realised how stupid her question had been. Regardless, Lilac answered the question.

"Yes."

It was a very cold yes. Carol's heart sank as Lilac hunkered back down in her seat. Her best friend returned to ignoring her.

So Carol stood up and pushed Lilac's shoulders up against the spaceship wall. To her surprise Lilac put up no resistance whatsoever. Her expression shifted in surprise at least. Carol took some comfort from the fact that Lilac wasn't completely unresponsive.

"You're hurt!" Carol chided, worried. "Stop ignoring the problem!"

"It's just a few scratches!" Lilac insisted.

Lilac had raised her voice. But Carol could hear how tired she was. Lilac's heart wasn't really in the objection. That weakness worried Carol. It didn't sound like her friend. Lilac clearly wanted to be left alone. She was determined to ignore her injuries. Maybe she didn't want to worry Carol. Or maybe she just wanted peace. But Carol couldn't ignore the problem anymore. She couldn't ignore her best friend bleeding.

"Torque! Lilac's hurt!"

Lilac let out a groan of frustration as Torque responded. It rapidly became a gasp of pain.

"What?" Torque's voice twisted upwards in fear. "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm fine!" Lilac insisted.

But she wasn't. The moan she let out immediately after revealed her true state. Carol squeaked in alarm as Lilac began to double over. She let her crumple forwards, truly scared now. She stood there helplessly. She didn't know how to begin to help. Lilac's wounds hadn't seemed this serious after the fight. Carol was sure that they had somehow gotten larger during the flight home. The cuts were opening up!

The bleeding got worse. Carol began to panic. She could see red hints around the area Lilac's arms covered. Lilac had been hiding a cut across her abdomen.

"She's been cut with something really really bad! She needs help!"

Lilac grit her teeth in irritation as Torque verbally engaged the autopilot. The metal door to the cockpit flew open. He stepped inside. Carol quickly learned that he had dealt with things like this before. In three steps he had gently moved her to one side. He knelt down to examine Lilac's injuries.

"What did this to you?"

He looked her dead in the eyes. Carol had never seen Torque take charge like this. His voice brooked no dissent, and Lilac was in no position to argue. She relented.

"The… OWW!... it was a knife! Brevon's knife!"

Lilac almost screamed the last part. She clenched her eyes and teeth shut, clearly in a lot of pain.

"Let me see it." Torque insisted.

It wasn't his most gentle voice. Carol was used to hearing it directed against the menagerie of idiots and monsters they'd crossed paths with during their three day ordeal. But she could hear the worry behind the anger. Lilac must have heard it too. As gingerly as she could she let her hands slide away from the injury.

Carol shrieked.

The cut had grown. It had grown with terrifying speed. What had begun as little more than a flesh wound had widened into a dangerous looking slice. Carol could see the damage even through the tear in Lilac's top.

Lilac hadn't just fooled Carol into thinking the cut had been shallower than it was. The pale shock on Lilac's face told Carol that she'd managed to fool herself. Waves of fear and revulsion coursed through Carol.

 _"Are we too late? Is she going to die here?"_

But Torque was calm.

The sight affected him. He visibly balked at the injury. But he recovered quickly. He had obviously dealt with things like this before. The way he took control of the situation comforted Carol. And it seemed to have a positive effect on Lilac too. She seemed to calm down slightly.

"Carol, I need you to prepare some red petal essence. There are petals in that cupboard over there."

Carol didn't need telling twice. She ran over to the cabinet doors and threw them open. She was relieved to find a jar with seven petals inside. She nearly dropped it as she lifted it out, her hands were shaking so badly. She fought to keep herself steady and began to squeeze the petals into a glass.

She overheard Torque speaking to Lilac.

"Lilac…"

There was a pause. Carol couldn't see what was going on. She guessed that Torque was waiting for Lilac to give him her full attention. She must have done so almost instantly because Torque quickly moved on.

"…I think there was some kind of acid on that weapon. It's slowly widening the cut. I need to get something from the ship's medical stores. In the meantime I need you to _keep the pressure on that wound_."

There was another pause as Lilac absorbed the instruction. Carol was relieved to hear that Torque's voice was considerably gentler when he next spoke.

"It's treatable. You're going to be ok, ok?"

There was a short pause as Lilac silently responded. Carol heard Torque stand up. She heard footsteps, and then a door slid open. Torque disappeared into a small side room.

The girls were on their own.

Carol's hands were shaking so badly she struggled to crush the petals. Tears escaped her eyes, but she was too frightened to care. She tried to get as much juice as possible out of each petal. But her thoroughness was slowing her down.

"Carol… that's enough. You can come back!"

Carol jolted round at Lilac's voice. She hadn't realised she was being watched. She froze like a deer in the headlights.

Then her face fell as she looked at the half-filled glass of red liquid in her hand.

"I… is this enough?" she asked. She'd only crushed four of the petals.

"I-It'll have to do!" Lilac ground out through the pain. Then, more gently, she added "You can always get more later."

Carol ran the medicine over as fast as she dared. As loyal and steadfast as ever she did her best to wait for Lilac to respond. Though her hands were shaking so badly she was spilling part of the potion on her gloves.

They had a problem. For obvious reasons Lilac couldn't move her arms.

"Mrrgh…" Lilac winced. It clearly took her a lot of effort just to look up. She managed to look Carol in the eyes. "Carol I need you to help me drink it. Can you do that?"

"Ok."

Carol's spoke so quietly she almost whispered. She couldn't stop staring at the wound. But she responded. She lifted the glass to Lilac's lips and helped her slowly gulp down the potion. At least she could help. She'd hated being a helpless bystander.

Lilac almost gagged several times as Carol struggled to control the pace of delivery. Carol's hands were shaking so badly she almost dropped the glass. But the essence was soon gone.

Most of it had gone into Lilac. But a fair amount had wound up dribbling down her chin. It demeaned Lilac and made Carol feel uncomfortable. Carol had never had to help someone do something as basic as drink a tonic. It shook her to see Lilac so weak. Lilac grimaced as Carol shakily withdrew the cup. There was a horrible pause as they waited for the potion to take its effect.

Then Lilac gave a gasp of relief. Carol felt a wave of relief break over her. She could see almost physically see the pain withdraw. The petals were taking effect.

But Lilac's hands began to shake. The dragon shivered despite the warmth of the transport bay. Carol gasped with fear. She realised that Lilac had been bleeding for a dangerous length of time. The blood loss had been slow, but she could see it was accelerating. The dark circle that surrounded the tear in Lilac's shirt had expanded, and red rivulets ran down her tendrils. Brevon's parting gift was doing its deadly work. The wounds weren't closing or clotting like they should.

"Lilac you're going to be ok, I promise."

Carol's voice was full of fear and distress. Lilac had to fight back tears of her own. The two girls were so focussed on each other and Lilac's steadily worsening condition that they didn't even notice Torque return. Until he spoke.

"Be careful making promises like that."

Torque's sad interruption so quietly and gently it disarmed both girls. The comment came across as poignant rather than ominous. He spoke so calmly and moved with such ease he instantly calmed the room. His demeanour told them instantly that everything was going to be ok.

Carol finally stopped shaking.

Torque gently motioned for her to move out the way. She did so quietly and calmly, as if Torque was an ocean of calm absorbing the panic. He knelt down to Lilac's level once more and opened a bottle of blue liquid. Both girls looked on curiously as he dipped an oversized cotton bud inside.

Blue goo curled viscously around the implement. It clung on fiercely as Torque lifted it out. The goo didn't drip at all. It stuck solidly to the cotton. Between its bizarre colour and unusual physical properties it wasn't like any medicine Carol had seen before. Lilac looked just as mystified. Despite their anxiety they couldn't help but be interested.

Carol noticed that Torque was very careful not to touch the neck of the bottle with either his hands or the cotton bud. He'd also changed his combat gloves out for plastic medical ones. Carol could see drops of liquid from where Torque had washed his hands. Though she didn't know how he'd done that. She'd seen no sink on board the spacecraft.

There had been strange bottles marked with formulae. Carol couldn't understand those, but she'd got the impression from the labels that they were poisonous. What were they for then?

Torque very carefully put the bottle down on the empty seat beside Lilac.

"Can I see the wound please?" he asked patiently.

Lilac realised what he meant. Wincing at the continuing pain she lifted her shirt enough to let Torque access the injury.

It was bad. Everyone could see that right away. A long, crescent shaped slice had been carved into Lilac's skin. It had then extended itself down further. Thankfully the red petals had stopped it reaching anything important. Temporarily.

Carol saw Torque wince slightly as he examined the ugly cut. However, he kept his voice as neutral and calm as possible. Most reassuringly, he didn't react with despair or panic. In fact, he didn't seem to react that strongly at all. Outwardly at least. Carol took her cue from him. She fought back her own fear and listened.

"It's a pretty deep cut, but it's not as serious as it would have been if we'd caught it later. Try to remain calm. This could feel a little weird."

It was clearly a lot worse than weird. Lilac had to bite back a scream as Torque smothered the area around the cut with the gel. Then she really did scream as Torque attended to the cut itself. Torque was as non-invasive as he could afford to be, and he moved as quickly as possible. But Lilac couldn't hold back moans of pain throughout the procedure.

Carol looked away so she didn't have to watch what Torque was doing. She still locked up every time she heard Lilac cry out. She knew Torque had to be thorough, but that didn't make her best friend's pain any less hideous. Mercifully Torque didn't take too long. Still, by the time he withdrew the cotton bud for the last time Lilac was on the verge of tears. Carol had to hold back welling tears of her own.

 _It's not fair._ she thought miserably.

Yet the blue gel quickly did its job. It had already formed a sort of seal over the injury. Lilac's expression visibly relaxed. No more blood escaped. Torque straightened up and let Lilac flop down in her seat. She grimaced with the memory of the pain. He waited a few moments to let her recover.

"Is she going to be ok?" Carol asked quietly. Her voice broke. She'd only just got up the courage to turn around and look.

"It should neutralise the acid and stop the damage from spreading. The wound should start to heal quickly." Torque paused, considering for a moment. "So yes Carol, she'll be fine." Carol realised he was talking to Lilac as much as he was to her.

"Now hold on while I treat the rest."

Carol's heart broke as she watched Lilac resign herself to further invasive discomfort. But at least she wasn't going to die.

They were actually going home…


	2. A Sudden Crisis

A Sudden Crisis

Carol watched on quietly as Torque set about treating the rest of Lilac's injuries.

Her feelings were all a jumble. On one hand Carol deeply appreciated how calmly Torque was handling the situation. He moved smoothly and expertly from one injury to the next, closing every horrid sore and letting the red petals do the rest. Torque had his failings and weaknesses. But he was unfailingly kind. Carol had to admit that he was good at making her feel calm.

On the other hand she _hated_ seeing Lilac so vulnerable. Her best friend stayed silent throughout almost the entire operation. Lilac sat quite still. There was a sad, almost frozen look on her face.

Carol read a cavalcade of negative emotions into that expression. Weariness dominated.

 _She's utterly exhausted._ she realised. _She doesn't have any more to give._

Guilt rose within her. Lilac had carried the greatest and worst part of the fighting against Brevon's monstrosities. It was her who had had to confront Brevon himself at the end. Carol had done as much as she could but she'd always seemed to be in reserve, supporting Lilac or pulling her out of a tight spot. In the end Lilac had hauled her out of the exploding dreadnought instead.

 _She saved my life._ Carol realised numbly. _After I abandoned her when_ _ **she needed me the most.**_

In the back of her mind Carol knew that going to Spade had been the correct decision. Recruiting the master thief had even been clever. Following Lilac straight into the base would have been disastrous. Carol's plan had saved the day. It had been her finest hour. So it seemed to everyone... except Carol herself.

 _I ran away because I was scared. I didn't care about anyone else but myself. I left Milla with Lilac even though I knew she was going to get into trouble. She had to come after me._

She hadn't just been scared for herself. That had been the most terrifying thing of all. Carol had been scared for Lilac. The idea of watching her get hurt... even the idea that Lilac wouldn't be able to cope, that had _terrified_ Carol. They'd already risked so much by that point. Lilac's insistence on going into danger again had pushed Carol over the edge.

 _I just couldn't take it any longer. I came back, but it was_ _ **already too late...**_

Carol's image of Lilac had been horribly corrected. She'd found her hanging burnt and broken, screaming at them to escape and shaking uncontrollably. The image burned Carol's mind. She shivered. She could never look at Lilac the same way. The pedestal Carol had placed Lilac on was shattered. Lilac wasn't invincible. If Carol needed that underlined, she needed only to look over at her. Lilac sat there like a broken doll as Torque literally glued her back together.

 _She's going to need help._ Carol realised. _I can't put it all on her anymore. I've been worried about her recklessness for so long. She never seemed to have any limits._

 _She finally got hurt. I won't let that happen again..._

Lilac had fallen asleep by the time the spacecraft touched down on Avalice's surface. Given what she'd been through, Carol was hardly surprised. She'd somehow managed to remain awake herself. Torque had insisted on freshly bandaging her head. She'd stubbornly refused to take the remaining petals. The juice had gone towards topping up Milla's drip instead. The cockpit door slid open. Torque emerged. He looked tired after the longer than planned flight.

"Is she ok?" he asked gently.

"She's just sleeping." Carol reassured him. She began to nod slightly herself.

"You should get some rest too." Torque suggested. "It's… been a really long day."

"But what about Milla?" Carol asked, worry creeping past the tiredness.

"I'll look after her." Torque promised.

Carol was too tired to argue on principle. Torque knew what he was doing, so she lay down across the seats and closed her eyes. However, just as she was losing consciousness Torque sighed in concern.

"We've got a problem."

Carol whimpered slightly from exhaustion. She pushed herself up.

"Ohh… what is it _now_?"

"We're running out of petal essence for Milla. I was hoping my cure would have worked by now."

That woke her up.

"What?" she cried. "But where are we gonna get-"

"I'll go search the ice fields for more of those plants." Torque said quickly. It was clear he spoke more to reassure Carol than to inform her. "You stay here and watch these two. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Torque went to hit the button for the ship's exit ramp. Carol was on her feet before he got there.

"No way! I'm way faster than you are! And I know where to search!"

Torque grimaced as she spoke. Instead of hitting the ramp button he came to lean against the metal bulwark above it.

"You three have done enough. Leave this to-"

"NO! I'm _not_ going to just lie down and sleep while Milla runs out of time!" Carol continued. "Lilac's been fighting all day and she had to fight that maniac! And Milla's the only reason we had oxygen to get there in the first place!"

Torque gave a heavy sigh as he heard Carol explode. He closed his eyes in guilty frustration.

"Your head's still injured," Torque countered. "You shouldn't be moving around!"

It was the sternest Carol had ever heard him, but she wasn't put off.

"This isn't even the worst injury I've had _today_!" Carol yelled.

That was a lie, and she knew it. In a final sigh of exasperation Torque shook his head.

"Stay on the ship and watch the others. I'm going. That's final."

Before Carol could say anything else Torque hit the exit button. For the ship and for the conversation. The opening ramp fell open and shattered the ice. A blast of cold air shot through the bay. Torque didn't wait for Carol to respond. He marched straight down the ramp.

Carol followed quickly and quietly behind. What should she do? Torque was right; she couldn't leave Milla alone. If he insisted on going, there wasn't a whole lot she could do to stop him. Torque had her. She felt immensely frustrated.

 _He's worried about me. He worries about us all. He didn't want to get us involved in the first place. He even offered to storm Brevon's ship on his own, the idiot. He's not as strong as we are. He wouldn't have needed our help if he had been._.

 _And there's something he needs to know about those flowers._ she realised.

Torque was certainly an expert medic. That wondrous blue gel hadn't been the first medical miracle Carol had seen that day. The cure they were gambling on was a concoction of the alien's own design. The ominous yellow potion had certainly been alien in appearance. It was experimental. Lilac had angrily refused to let him guinea pig Milla with it. She knew a fair bit about first aid herself. Torque had stated bluntly that the alternative was to let Milla die. Given the gulf between the pair's educations, it was needless to say he'd won the argument.

Neither Carol nor Lilac had fully understood how the medicine worked, even after Torque had explained it. Something about damage to deeanay and repairs to Milla's jeans. The most Carol understood of it was that it was supposed to rapidly reverse the damage caused by Brevon's corruption. Torque had only administered a thimbleful of it.

It still hadn't worked, but to Carol's immense relief Milla wasn't dead either. She remained in her breathless coma. Carol wondered if that was really because of Torque's potion. It could just as easily have been the natural wonder that was Avalice's red petal flower. The flower could heal almost any wound. If its essence ran out, Milla's situation could deteriorate fast.

Carol went to follow Torque off the ramp. He'd need her help with this, and he _wasn't_ going alone. She was going to have to persuade him to let her go.

Then they both leapt out of their skin.

An enormous cheer went up from around the spacecraft. About a dozen soldiers celebrated their arrival. Carol stared in wonder as a gigantic panda bear in full armour practically ran up the gangway towards them. General Gong was laughing with joy.

"YOU MADE IT!" he cried.

Torque pre-empted a hug from the Shang Tu's enormous general. He got straight to the point.

"Milla needs medical attention." Torque explained. The cheer on Gong's face evaporated.

After a moment's shock he recovered. There was a grim expression on his face.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"Red petals. As many as you can. She needs a steady drip of them."

Gong grimaced. He clearly wondered what injury was so severe it needed a steady run of petal essence. He turned to his men. Gong issued orders with startling speed and clarity.

"Sung, take your men and scour the field for any red petals that haven't been harvested yet. Wei, I need your squad to run west to the nearest medical station and tell them we need as many red petals as they can spare. Max, take your squad and a jeep and head for Shuigang. There may be petals there too but _don't_ loot them! Make sure they aren't for someone else!"

The soldiers scrambled to obey their orders. Gong turned back to Torque.

"Are the others ok?" he asked quietly, concerned.

"Lilac was hurt by Brevon's knife." Torque explained grimly. "Carol took a blow to the head when one of Brevon's robots exploded. But they've both been treated. They should be fine as long as they rest."

Gong's face grew stern.

"I see you came back unharmed." he observed coldly.

Carol's heart wrenched as she saw Torque's shoulders slump. There was a very sober pause.

Gong sighed. "I'm not one to talk. Our army just won an effortless victory over those machines and Shuigang surrendered almost without a fight. It's all mostly thanks to them."

"I had no right to ask what I did of them." Torque replied. Guilt pushed the words out faster than normal.

"I don't think they would have taken no." Gong observed.

Torque spoke again after an uncomfortable silence. He nearly choked on the sentence.

"Umm... before you showed up I was going to search for red petals. Would that still be worthwhile?"

Gong paused for a second as he considered that.

"Do you know what you're looking for?" He asked. Torque nodded.

"A red flower made of overlapping petals. I know. I've seen dozens of them today alone."

"And do you know where to look?" Gong asked sceptically.

Torque must have looked perplexed. Carol wasn't surprised. After all, they'd found red petal flowers in arid river valleys, marshy lagoons, frozen wastelands and even on Brevon's dreadnought. The plant grew underwater, out of metal and even appeared on tiny platforms where there was no room to put down roots. No one knew exactly how that flower survived in its locations or how it got there in the first place. But there was one thing that anyone who spent time on Avalice came to understand about the red petal flower.

"The plant grows where it's needed. That's all you need to know to find it." Gong said.

Carol rolled her eyes. Talk about needlessly cryptic. She needed to join this conversation.

"That means it only grows in dangerous places or places where there's been a lot of fighting." she clarified.

Torque and Gong both jumped out of their skin.

"No, no… by all means. Talk about me like I'm not here." Carol remarked. She wasn't used to being ignored, and it irritated her. The adults exchanged meaningful glances.

"Well, the latter sounds like a lot less trouble than the former." Torque said heavily. He seemed to be thinking out loud rather than talking to anybody specific. "Could we search the battlefield again?" he asked Gong.

"HEY!"

Carol lost her temper. She strode up beside both of them.

"Do you really want me to watch the others, or are you just trying to keep me out of trouble?"

She glared at Torque. Torque sighed and looked at his feet. When he turned to Carol she winced. He seemed extremely angry.

"Carol, we're looking for some _flowers._ " he said, exasperated. "Please, just _get some rest!_ You're _wounded!_ "

Carol realised with a pang that he wasn't angry at all. He was _worried._ He was also right. Her head still throbbed dangerously. Lilac would never have let her fight like this. She couldn't actually have stopped her, but Carol would have been reluctant to ignore Lilac here. She didn't ignore medical warnings. After three days of turmoil Carol had developed a nose for danger. The stern look from Gong didn't help.

She decided to listen to Torque. Carol sighed. She looked away, relenting. To her immense frustration, Torque turned back to Gong. They picked up the conversation where they'd left off.

"You could try, but I don't think you're likely to have much luck," Gong explained. "Our medics have already swept the battlefield clean."

He thought for a moment.

"There is one other place we could search that's nearby."

Carol could tell from his voice that this was going to be risky. She began to feel tendrils of familiar disquiet. This felt too familiar.

"We need those petals as quickly as possible." Torque insisted.

Gong folded his arms uncomfortably. He rolled back and forward on his feet and examined the floor before he looked up. It was the closest Carol had been to seeing the general nervous about something.

"There's a forest just to the east of here. Less than five minutes' walk away. But it's no place for a picnic. We've only marked it down on our maps because it's a natural hazard."

"So naturally there'd be a lot of red flowers there." Torque concluded.

"Well duh." Carol muttered darkly.

Inside her heart was sinking. If it was dangerous Torque was even less likely to let her go. Carol wondered nervously if she should try to wake Lilac.

Then she realised how little she wanted her to go. Carol knew she was being a hypocrite, but she was in no hurry to let Lilac charge off into danger again. She knew if Lilac woke she'd just end up with two people telling her to watch Milla. Then she'd go charging off too. Lilac was faster though. Carol knew in her heart she could look after herself a lot better than Torque. They'd be a lot stronger together.

"The forest is extremely dangerous, even for large groups of men. I wouldn't recommend going alone." Gong explained.

"What's there?" Torque asked. It was obvious he was anticipating an uncomfortable answer.

"We don't know." Gong replied grimly. "Dangerous animals. Man eating plants. Vast thorns so sharp they can tear open metal armour. And we're not even sure that's the end of it. It's a bad place Torque. People don't usually come back if they go in too far. I can't recommend it. But if you're desperate..."

"We're getting to that point." Torque stated bluntly.

 _I don't like this..._ she thought miserably. _This is just like the lake._

Carol was seconds away from vetoing Torque decisively. Then Gong threw her off. He spoke.

"Alright… in that case I'd better come with you."

Carol's jaw dropped.

"Really?" Torque exclaimed. Gong nodded.

The general was going with them? Carol had never seen Gong fight, but he was supposed to be a war hero. If he was going to help maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Carol hesitated, her reasoning overwritten.

"If we're going we'd better leave now. I've got a jeep that will get us there in two minutes." Gong said.

Then, just like that, the general turned to leave. Without any further words Torque followed. Carol's heart leapt. Her last chance to help was slipping through her fingers! She ran down the ramp. She still wasn't ok with this!

"Wait! Torque!"

They turned around. Torque gave Carol one final hard look.

"Shouldn't Lilac at least come with you?"

Carol felt awful for saying that. Torque stared back at her. His face didn't soften. She felt like she was being judged. Carol finally crumpled.

"Let her rest Carol. We'll be back as soon as we can."

Carol couldn't muster any more resistance. She watched on helplessly as Torque and Gong got into the jeep. They drove off towards the forest without another glance her way. She didn't stop watching them until they'd disappeared over a hill and vanished from her vision. For now, it was as if they'd vanished from existence.

She felt angry at being manipulated. She even felt a little humiliated. Carol winced as another wave of pain radiated out from her head wound. She couldn't have hated its presence more in that moment. She felt like a small child again, helpless to do anything while the big people made all the decisions. Torque had run roughshod straight over her choices, and she'd let him. That was the strange thing about being a child on Avalice. No one ever offered you any help, but you were unimportant enough to ignore if it suited greater powers. Apparently, even if you'd blown up a spaceship. Bitter and despondent, Carol closed the exit to the ship.

 _Just don't get hurt._ she thought anxiously.

 _Loading Level: Forsaken Woodland.  
New Characters detected. Please select your character. T/G  
T. Commander Torque selected. Generating level…  
Tip: The more red flowers one finds in an area the closer to death one may be. Beware Avalice's generosity._


	3. Forsaken Woodland

Forsaken Woodland.

Torque and Gong proceeded nervously through the perpetual twilight of Avalice's northern forests.

"How long until morning?" Torque asked.

He leapt clumsily over a fallen log. Or tried to. In the dark he almost tumbled over it instead.

"A couple of hours." Gong replied.

Too long in other words.

Torque rebalanced, frustrated. They needed to move faster than this! But in the gloom, his coordination wasn't letting him. Any faster and he'd end up needing medical attention himself.

To his frustration, Gong didn't seem to be having any trouble at all.

Gong was considerably further ahead, effortlessly smashing a thicket of brambles aside with his shield. Torque would have appreciated it if the general had slowed down.

They couldn't have picked a worse time for this expedition. It was already night time. Above their heads a malevolent criss-cross of twisted branches blocked out what little light was available. It was almost pitch black, and Torque had trouble putting one foot in front of the other. Let alone search for the tell-tale glow of the precious red flowers.

His night vision was not unappreciable. He'd coped well enough with the dark of Jade Creek. Indeed, he could see well enough outside on the frozen glacier. But here he could barely see five feet in front of him.

Torque had turned on a flashlight on his blaster. But that still gave him only a tiny window of vision amidst the total dark.

It also did nothing for his nerves. Which were growing by the minute.

"You need that thing?"

Gong finally stopped and turned around.

"My night vision isn't as good as yours." Torque admitted. Despite his unease he managed to keep his tone professional.

Gong grimaced. It was obvious he was growing impatient.

Gong wasn't very fast, but he was relentless. He was also eager to get on. The alien general strode ahead confidently, moving around and occasionally smashing through obstacles Torque hadn't even seen yet. In the dark Torque would probably have stumbled straight into them.

They slowly made their way down the path.

If this frozen animal trail could be called such. It wound through the frigid tree trunks, snaking off into the primordial forest. Land that had never seen civilisation.

Strange birds and insects chirped and creaked away in the trees. The air was filled with the sound of bending branches. This forest was very dense with life, despite the northern climes, and the sounds of the wilds surrounded them. That worried Torque, given the forest's reputation.

It also meant they spent most of their time looking up.

"Whoa!" Gong cried.

He'd stumbled upon the edge of a pit.

He balanced there precariously. But the ledge gave way beneath him. Gong cried out as the soil under his toes dissolved into nothingness.

He overbalanced… and fell.

Only to reel backwards onto the ledge again. A quick tug from Torque saved him from plummeting to the bottom. Gong teetered backwards on his heels and almost tumbled over as Torque helped him maintain his balance.

They hadn't gone more than three hundred yards and already there'd been a near death experience. There was a moment's quiet as both men recovered from the incident.

Once their hearts had stopped beating out of their chests Gong recovered enough to speak.

"…thanks."

That was all he had to say to that. They peered into the inky depths below.

The reason for the pit was clear enough. There was a gigantic rift that crossed the forest floor, extending off into the distance. There had clearly been extremely heavy tectonic activity here.

Or, Torque considered, a catastrophe of astronomical proportions.

It would take an unknown amount of time to circumnavigate. More time than Milla had. And even if they had the time it wouldn't be any safer. Torque wondered what was walking around down there. Or, more pointedly, what could crawl out either end. Breaking off the path meant wandering off into the bushes, and there was no telling what waited for them inside. The dense foliage could hide anything.

No, they were stuck on the path they were on. Forward and back, those were the choices. And one of those wasn't really a choice at all.

There were plants down there. Nasty ones. It wasn't clear in the darkness but it looked like a thicket of thorns had sprouted up across the gap. He could see enough to guess that falling in would guarantee at least a laceration.

They were here to get petals, not end up needing them themselves. Torque and Gong took a moment to decide how to cross the cursed chasm.

As they did so Torque had to fight back his rising anxiety. This was an unwelcome delay.

Torque's spacesuit had one ace up its sleeve for a situation like this. There was a small, rechargeable source of energy inside each shoe. In an emergency it could provide propulsion.

That was a very fancy way of saying he had rocket boots. They were technically for moving around in a vacuum, but in an emergency they could be repurposed. They would just about clear the gap.

"I could just about jump it." he suggested.

"I can't." Gong replied.

Torque grimaced in irritation.

"How far is it down there?" Gong asked. "Can you see at all?"

Torque shone his torch down into the murky thicket. It wasn't a pretty picture.

They were thorns alright. But these weren't your humble rose bushes. Past the surface brambles Torque could see thick, teeth-like serrations that looked like they could endanger a limb or worse. He couldn't see through much, but the thicket was deep. Torque doubted the situation got any better going down.

"Far enough to be fatal and with plenty of sharp things on the way down." he concluded with decision.

Gong sighed nervously.

A little voice in the back of Torque's mind told him that Lilac could have got past this obstacle no problem. He couldn't help but wonder if coming out here himself was a great idea.

But he was committed now. It wasn't like he could turn back. Now that he'd decided on a plan Milla was counting on him seeing it through. If he turned back now, there wouldn't be another expedition.

He had another thing to worry about. If they didn't hurry Carol might begin to panic or Lilac might wake up. Either or both could decide to come after them.

If they did they'd struggle to find him in the darkness. But they might well find something else. Neither Lilac nor Carol had problems with the dark, but this forest was a big place. Their chances of running into one another were slim at best.

This wasn't a good situation, and it was one of Torque's own foolish creation. It made him come to two decisions.

One, follow a predictable line so Carol would at least catch up with them. Because everything he knew about her said that she would do so eventually. She might even bring Lilac with her. Torque certainly hoped she wouldn't come alone.

Two, get across this chasm as soon as possible. And get back as soon as possible.

With decision, Torque backed up.

"You're going to jump?!" Gong exclaimed.

"There's no other way!" Torque insisted. "I'll find a way to let you across from the other side."

"Or we could just use the fallen tree."

Torque froze seconds before he was about to make the leap.

Which was just as well. Unbeknownst to him, the foot he was springing off with was lodged in a root. He'd probably have survived, but it would have been very embarrassing.

(Not to mention painful).

"Right," he began, flushing slightly. "That would probably be the safer choice."

"Mind your foot." Gong observed calmly.

Torque gave a start of alarm when he realised where his foot was.

Judging from the bemused expression on Gong's face he hadn't exactly covered himself in glory. The general was obviously wondering whether his supposed partner was up to this.

Torque was beginning to wonder that himself.

They tested the trunk to make sure it could support some weight. Then, the dubiously matched pair began to slowly balance their way over to the other side.

Gong had some trouble with that. His heavy armour and girth didn't exactly lend themselves to a stable centre of balance. Nonetheless he did surprisingly well. For someone who was twice the size and width of the average panda Gong was surprisingly agile.

The wood began to bend. Torque and Gong froze. Torque could get away, but Gong had no chance. He'd plummet straight to the bottom of the ravine.

Thankfully the makeshift bridge held. They completed their perilous journey. Torque sighed with relief as his feet made landfall upon the hostile side of the gap.

He made a mental note to cross separately next time.

They didn't waste a second longer than they had to. Torque and Gong marched deeper into the forest. Torque accelerated, determined to keep up with Gong this time.

He wasn't going to let them down again. Not when the end was so close…

* * *

Carol watched despondently as Milla's life slowly drained away. At least that was how it felt, watching the drip run slowly into her friend's veins. There was barely anything left in the bag now.

Her fear grew with every passing minute, alongside a building sense of helplessness. Soon the drops would become irregular. And then they would cease entirely.

Time was running out.

She could have been replaced by a cinder block here. It would have been just as useful. She'd been duped into abandoning a role she was actually good at.

Torque could have actually done something. Instead he was off in the creepy death trap while she pretended to be a doctor.

Now she faced the prospect of losing _both_ friends.

Her head hurt. She stirred from restless anxiety.

Carol was afraid for Torque. The last time he'd gone off on his own he'd gotten into trouble. That had then spiralled as Lilac went after him.

Carol had had so little power over what came next.

Once again she felt like all sense of control was slipping through her fingers. As if everyone she cared about was slowly being stolen away by forces beyond her reach. It was a horrible feeling, a restless, bubbling anxiety that never fully broke, but never went away either. It just constantly simmered away, sapping at her resolve and willpower.

But there was still a window of time to do something. If she just acted!

Carol wasn't doing any good here. If the drip ran out what was she supposed to do, sprinkle magic dust? Conduct the last rites?

Be there while Milla died?

Her friend was unconscious. She probably didn't even know Carol was there. And the red liquid continued to run down…

All of that pressure built itself up towards an inevitable conclusion. Carol decided that she wasn't going to wait any longer.

She pushed herself up onto her feet. Carol began to pace impatiently towards the door, anxiety and irritation overwhelming her patience.

 _"I don't care what Torque thinks. I'm going after him."_

Carol knew how this kind of pursuit had ended in the past. But she reasoned there wasn't a psychopathic space tyrant waiting for them this time. And she wasn't going to run away again. She reached the door release.

Then she saw Lilac sleeping out of the corner of her eye.

For a moment, Carol hesitated.

In the back of her mind, she knew this wasn't the brightest plan. She reconsidered.

Carol could be rash. But she wasn't rash like Lilac. She had a modicum of caution. What she was about to do was extremely dangerous. And she was going on her own.

Should she wake Lilac?

Lilac was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to the emergency that was breaking out around her. Carol was torn.

Was she really going to ask her to help? After everything that Lilac had had to do?

In the end, a mixture of worry and pride won over her. But not completely. As quietly as she could, she headed back over to the counter where she'd prepared the red petal essence.

Not to watch Milla. Carol had done everything she could there. Instead, she readied a claw.

She carefully carved something into the table. A little contingency.

 _Then_ she hit the exit ramp. It was polite to leave a note.

* * *

What _was_ this place?!

Torque sprang back as the grass he'd almost walked into did its best to impale him. The suddenly rigid blades had manifested hideous little leeching pores.

He'd almost been impaled upon a dozen tree branches just a few minutes earlier. Then he'd had to save Gong from being torn limb from limb by the offending tree's root network. A vine had tried to strangle him; Gong had used his teeth to bite through it. And that was only a partial list of the terrors they'd encountered.

Torque set the entire field ablaze, putting at least a dozen blaster rounds into the soil before he dared set foot across it. When it came to aggressive lawn ornamentation he believed in being as thorough as possible.

He hadn't been thorough enough. As he stepped forward the entire bed rose up. Dozens of roots shot out to exact their revenge.

Torque didn't have any time to get out of the way. But thankfully he wasn't alone.

Gong shoved him to one side and blocked the grassroots with his shield. There was a tremendous clatter as the general was physically forced back by the assault. But the organic terrors got nothing. Except fire. Torque fired so many blaster shots his weapon almost overheated.

He only stopped shooting when he was afraid the power source was going to rupture. Which would have created an explosion the size of a small spacecraft.

Eventually the… _whatever it was…_ sunk back down into the soil.

Torque kept firing just to be sure. In fact he was being positively trigger happy. It wasn't until he'd reduced a fairly large part of the surrounding area to ash that he relented.

He was fairly sure he was breaking at least three separate laws regarding the preservation of virgin planetary ecology. But he didn't really care in that moment.

Gong slowly straightened up while Torque caught his breath. They both needed a moment. The pair stood there for a good ten seconds, not quite believing what had happened.

"Is the rest of Avalice like this?" Torque asked exasperatedly. He hadn't encountered anything this dangerous during his whistle-stop tour of the planet.

"This is unusually bad." Gong admitted, sweating slightly. "But it's not unheard of out in the wilder regions. And it gets worse the deeper you go into the planet."

He paused for a second.

"They say that everywhere was like this. Back before we had the Kingdom Stone."

Torque took pause at that.

Had things really been this bad on Avalice before the stone's discovery? Before the people here had had the means to defend themselves? What would happen now?

At some point he was going to have to tell the general the truth. But this wasn't the time. They had to help Milla first.

Ignoring his heavy conscience Torque pressed on.

"Come on, we've got work to do." he muttered uncertainly.

Thankfully Gong didn't pick up on the evasiveness in his voice. Or if he did, he didn't show it.

"You won't get any argument from me." was all he said. The general shrugged his shoulders and followed on.

Gong was old, surprisingly so for someone who was still in active service. Despite that he was tiring a lot more slowly than Torque was. The general hadn't so much as flinched, even while a tree had been actively trying to rip his head off. He'd roared like a demon, but more in rage than terror. Gong had been more annoyed at Torque's slowness at getting the thing off him. The man's ability to suppress his fear was incredible.

It was very obvious he had been a mighty warrior in his youth. Which explained why he was the general of Shang Tu's army now. Torque wondered what conflicts the old panda had witnessed over the years. Had he had to fight his own Brevon? It would certainly explain the panda's nonchalance in the face of mortal danger.

Torque had joined the Chasers in a time of desperation. He'd come to fight a specific enemy. For Gong, this was his _day job_.

Gong had also shown a remarkable talent for observation. He had spotted at least five death traps on their way through the forest. Three pits, a hanging vine and a cave full of dangerous looking tendrils. Torque had had no desire to go anywhere near the latter, which had looked especially nasty. Especially given the perfumed stench of rancid flesh emanating from within. In hindsight Torque hadn't been sure it was even a cave.

If Gong hadn't peered inside he would probably have walked straight into it.

They'd marked where each hazard was in the dirt and on nearby trees. Just in case Carol barrelled straight into them. Gong hadn't been willing to bank on her patience either. The pair pressed on through the woods as fast as they could.

But so far their hunt for red flowers had met with miserable failure. Torque couldn't believe their bad luck. He'd passed dozens of such flowers over the course of his adventures on Avalice, some under much less dangerous circumstances.

So why hadn't they found any while traversing this lethal wilderness?

It was only after they got to yet another chasm, this one truly insurmountable, that he voiced the obvious question.

"Why haven't we found any flowers?" he asked, exasperated.

"You noticed too?" Gong said. There was a touch of nerves in his voice.

They paused for a while on the edge of the lethal thicket.

They'd actually broken out of the trees and into a small clearing. Cut off by the chasm, it formed a semi-circle about a hundred square yards across. A hundred square yards of nothing but grass. Thankfully of the non-carnivorous variety.

There were even some flowers. Ones that didn't spit fire. It was actually serene.

Unnervingly so. There was something up here. Why had the vegetation retreated?

"Maybe we should go back." Torque suggested nervously. "This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Is that an option for Milla?" Gong asked grimly. There was a long pause as Torque considered that.

"…not really." he concluded quietly.

Gong adjusted his stance a bit. He folded his arms, rolling on his heels to keep warm in the freezing air. He thought for a moment.

"Then we'd better press on." he determined.

"How?" Torque asked in exasperation. "There's no way across this chasm!"

Gong regarded him for a second.

"Are you really going to let a hole in the ground stop you?" he asked sceptically. "After everything else you've been through today?"

Torque didn't have an answer to that. But it didn't change the fact that even his rocket boots weren't going to get him across this clearing. Gong stood even less chance.

Torque sighed.

"Alright. Do you have a plan?"

Gong looked around, using long experience to survey the terrain. Torque searched with him.

For a few seconds, they found nothing useful.

Then Gong spotted something.

"There. We use that." Torque looked where he was pointing.

"You're _serious_?" he cried.

Sitting at the edge of the chasm was the most hideous tree he'd ever seen.

It was incredibly thick. Yet there were strange carvings in the trunk. Ghoulish green sap emanated from inside, and it extended up into the sky.

The branches were twisted and bare of leaves. They were thin, and impossibly long. Almost like twisted mockeries of Lilac's tendrils. Torque also noticed that they didn't seem to have any leaf branches. Was it possible for this thing to get any more ominous?

Yes. A sprawling mass of roots sunk deep down into the ground around. Though they didn't extend that far from the tree at the surface, Torque could already tell that there had to be an enormous network underground. The fact that this thing's influence might extend out further was disturbing. To say the least.

There was also a conspicuous lack of other vegetation in the surrounding area.

" _That's_ the tree you want to cut down?" Torque asked, incredulous. "The murder tree?" Gong grinned.

"Beautiful isn't she?"

He strode forward towards the cursed plant. Had he lost his mind?!

"General, wait!" Torque cried.

"That's got to be the unhealthiest tree I've ever seen." he continued. "We'll have her down in five seconds!"

"I really don't think this is a good idea!" Torque said, as he rushed to keep pace. And also to stop the general before he got them both killed. But Gong reached the tree…

…and passed behind it. The general strode off to examine another piece of deadwood. One that was growing a few metres behind it. And looked considerably less menacing.

"Oh…" Torque said sheepishly.

"What, did you think I was stupid?" Gong accused. "Keep an eye on that thing while I get to work!"

Torque still wasn't happy about this. But he took up sentry duty after dodging round the forsaken tree. _Well_ around; he gave it at least five metres distance. He also didn't touch the roots.

Gong moved around till the dead tree was between himself and the pit. Then he gave it the most powerful shoulder barge Torque had ever seen.

The ground shook. Birds took flight from the trees. Cracks appeared in the ground. And…

…nothing happened.

Gong bounced off the tree onto his backside.

"Ouch!" he complained.

"Huh. Thought it would have moved a little…" Torque observed. A bit unhelpfully.

Gong growled. That had annoyed him. He pulled himself to his feet, muttering darkly.

Torque examined the foot of the tree.

It didn't look particularly well entrenched. There were no visible roots. Indeed, he could see why Gong had selected this particular tree. Though it reached up into the sky, there was nothing visible anchoring it into the earth.

It should have been extremely vulnerable. Then again…

"Shouldn't the wind have already blown this one down?" Torque observed.

Gong grunted in irritation. For a second, Torque thought he was going to give it another try.

Then he spoke.

"It's odd." he admitted quietly.

A chill went down Torque's spine. Something was very wrong here.

Had it been this quiet earlier?

Then the ground shook. Torque felt the earth lift from under him.

 _"LOOK OUT!"_ Gong cried.


	4. Murder Tree

Murder Tree

Torque dived to one side.

The tree was now heading skywards. Dredged out of the ground, a massive ridge of wood rose up into the sky and swung away. Had Torque stayed still it would have cut him in two.

It took the tree with it. Torque tried to stagger to his feet. But he never got the chance. The earth trembled, knocking him back down.

Then the entire meadow exploded into the sky.

A network of roots the size of an athletics track erupted from the frozen soil. As the ground shattered Gong and Torque were lifted up. It was as if they had been caught in a giant wooden net. They were raised high into the sky. And then the roots angled themselves downwards. Torque and Gong were roughly deposited from the tangle, hitting the ground in a sprawling heap. They were half buried in the displaced soil.

Groaning, they pulled themselves up. And stared into a sea of madness.

"General, I don't want to alarm you! But _the tree is airborne!"_ Torque cried. His voice reached a new register.

The tree was indeed now airborne. Like a scorpion's tail it flailed around behind its hideous cousin, pulled a hundred and eighty degrees to the other side. The rotting trunk now stood on four colossal wooden legs, roots seeping pale green liquid. Each root terminated in curved tendrils that anchored them to the soil. Like gigantic claws.

Out from the base of the monstrous tree a vast mess of smaller roots reached out towards the stars. They extended out impossibly far, their menacing net overshadowing the entire meadow. Torque and Gong looked up to see a night sky full of gigantic wooden spears. But most intimidating of all was that which peered out from under the rotting trunk itself.

Eyes. Obscene, bulging _eyes_. Torque could see where the connective tissue fed into the wood.. They rocked from side to side nauseatingly as the tree shifted.

"Oh, you've got to be _kidding_ me!" Gong cried. "It stole our bridge!"

Torque just stared. The forty foot high tree flailed around behind the abomination like it was made of feathers. Nothing he'd met in the galaxy had prepared him for this!

Above their heads, the root network began to spin. It twisted faster and faster around the tree, until each individual root was moving faster than Torque could keep track of.

Then the mass dropped down.

"GET BEHIND ME TORQUE!" Gong bellowed.

Torque didn't hesitate for a second. He crouched behind Gong's shield. Moments later they were engulfed in a maelstrom of slicing branches.

Thousands of roots whipped and broke off of Gong's shield and armour. He moaned and strained under the effort of keeping every impact at bay. The noise was _deafening_. Torque had frozen in place. He could feel the wind whistling by where the roots had shot by inches from his face.

"DON'T JUST SIT THERE!" Gong cried above the clatter of breaking roots. "START SHOOTING!"

Torque forced himself to respond. He fired wildly into the flailing mass. There was nothing to aim at, or more accurately too _much_ to aim at. But the shots did their job. Between Gong's shield and Torque's blaster they were doing an appreciable amount of damage to the hurricane of roots. Anything that smashed off Gong's shield risked splintering, while Torque's blaster set many on fire.

Then the maelstrom stopped. It changed direction. Now they had _blazing_ pieces of wood coming their way.

Torque dove for cover as the pair rapidly reconfigured their positions. But they weren't quite fast enough. Torque felt his leg whipped from under him. He landed on his back in a heap. Thankfully he'd landed firmly behind Gong. There was a stinging pain in his leg.

He forced himself to recover. Torque continued to fire shots into the deadly hail. Fragments of broken branches exploded everywhere, raining down from the sky in a hazardous hail. Gong grunted in pain as he was bombarded for another good twenty seconds by a hail of smashing, splintering wood.

"Urrgh… been way too long since I did this…" he complained.

But the general's strength held. The storm stopped. The roots whipped up into the sky again. Torque peered out from behind Gong.

And then pushed the general as hard as he could. Milliseconds later, the tail impaled itself into the ground between them.

The ground tremored. Gong was on his feet first. Roaring, he slammed his shield into the side of the tail. Torque fired away, setting the bark on fire.

But Gong had made a mistake. Before he could withdraw his shield the ground began to shake. The tail was lifting.

"GYAAAAA!" he screamed as he was lifted into the air.

"General!" Torque gasped.

In desperation he switched to fire bomb rounds. The effect was _spectacular_. As the experimental bolts erupted into flames Gong was thrown bodily from the tree, his shield deposited roughly beside him. Burning pieces of bark splintered everywhere. The explosions ripped through the dead tree as it attempted to make its escape. The tip of the trunk broke off, leaving a hollow core inside. Green goop slid out of it, dripping sickeningly onto the ground to leave a nasty trail extending off towards its hideous partner. There was a terrifying quake. The freak of nature was shuddering in agony.

Torque turned to face the abomination. His confidence was rising. He'd managed to hurt it! And he'd found the right weapon too.

The eyes stared back, veiny, twitchy and livid. They were terrifying. But they also made a marvellous target. Torque fired.

To his dismay it didn't work. The entire tree dropped down into the soil. The explosion set the outside bark on fire and it began to spread up the trunk. The outside of the monster became a towering inferno, smoke visible for miles around.

But that was going to take a while to have any effect.

Worse, all the ugly sores on the tree were opening. Pale liquid could be seen glimmering inside.

Torque kept firing. He could see an attack building a mile off. Huge chunks of rotting wood exploded off the trees interior, revealing gaping, weeping green sores in the wood underneath. Though the outside bark was engulfed in an inferno, it proved frustratingly hard to ignite.

The damage wasn't enough. Thousands of man-sized globules shot into the sky. This tree bombarded its prey with _acid_. Dozens of burning droplets splashed down.

Torque and Gong dodged rain. Gong could block some of the drops with his shield. But he couldn't account for the splashes. He roared in pain as a globule broke and splashed his left arm. The acid quickly neutralised, but the general clutched his arm where it had soaked under his gauntlets.

"Are you ok?" Torque yelled as he jumped out the way of the last droplets. He was aware of the fact his shoes were now smouldering. The acid had drenched the earth.

He was taken aback when Gong howled with laughter.

"This thing obviously likes to tenderise its prey!" he quipped.

Was he enjoying this? That wasn't reassuring. Torque tried to take a very professional attitude to combat. Gong, on the other hand, was clearly from another age. Shaken, Torque kept firing his blaster, lighting up more and more of the tree. But he couldn't damage it quickly enough.

The forest of roots descended again. Torque dove for cover. But he wasn't fast enough. The branches whipped him off his feet. He tumbled to the ground, crying out with pain and shielding his head with his hands.

Gong repositioned himself as fast as possible. The general winced as a dozen branches whipped at his feet and leggings. But he endured long enough to save Torque from being torn to pieces.

"Rrrrrggh!" Gong roared. "Is that the best you've got?"

"This thing's going to kill us!" Torque cried, pain and fear mingling in his voice. There were several cuts in his spacesuit where the roots had torn through.

"Nonsense!" Gong shouted. "We're just getting started!"

Gong might have been enjoying his time on the front lines. But Torque was terrified. As the storm changed direction he practically threw himself to the other side of Gong. Torque still fired as many shots as possible, but he was losing his appetite for this fight.

Suddenly the roots shot into the air again. Only to rapidly curve down. At the same time Torque could feel the ground begin to shake beneath him.

He realised with dread what was going to happen.

"General! _Above and below_!" he hollered.

"Get on my shield and fire up!" Gong ordered. He threw his shield to the floor and stepped on it.

Torque obeyed without question. He boarded the general's shield as Gong pinned it in place. Desperately, Torque fired up into the air. Dozens of explosive bolts flew from his blaster, as many as the semi-automatic weapon would allow him to. He didn't know how much ammo for this he had left! But he didn't dare stop shooting.

The oncoming branches exploded into thousands of fiery particles. Torque was bombarded with blazing fragments as the shield wobbled violently beneath him below. He fought to keep his aim steady even as his face burned from falling embers.

To his relief and amazement, the monster ran out of strength first. There was a tremendous shudder of pain as the roots broke off their attack. Torque staggered off the shield and knocked the remaining bits of burning wood away from his eyes. By some miracle he hadn't been badly burnt.

The tree lifted itself up again. The eyes stared, staring down the prey that had frustrated it so much. Torque and Gong had put up an annoying amount of resistance.

This time, Torque didn't give the beast time to take cover. He shot his weapon immediately towards the left eyeball. The monster's frustration turned to agony as Torque's exploding beam impacted right in its eye. Torque could instantly see that he'd ruined it. Viscera began to drip out, and the sickly green iris was gone. Ghoulish white flesh was all that remained. Gong cheered. Torque stood trembling, not quite believing what he'd accomplished.

But their cheer was premature. The earth began to shake violently, to the point both men had trouble staying upright.

"I think we might have made it cross!" Torque yelled.

"Great!" Gong shouted back. "Let's annoy it even more!"

But any thought of doing that rapidly left Torque as the entire clearing quaked. They were almost turfed off their feet. To his left, on the opposite edge of the clearing, huge spikes of wood began to shatter the soil. Made of densely twisted roots, they covered the entire glade, and extended up into the sky.

They were going to be impaled on improvised wooden stakes. Even if Gong's shield managed to block them, they'd be launched skywards into the swarming roots above. Impaled or cut to pieces. There was only one alternative.

"RUN!" Torque cried.

"What?" Gong exclaimed.

He was confused, but had no time to react as Torque pushed him away from the oncoming storm. They ran.

Straight for the edge of the cliff. Torque had a plan, but he wondered if it was really going to work. Gong must have realised where this was going too, because he started yelling.

 ** _"Have you lost your mind?!"_** he cried. **_"We are NOT going to-"_**

He was right. They weren't going to jump. The soil exploded behind them and turfed them into the hole instead. Spontaneously, Torque's unspoken escape plan went into action.

Gong practically somersaulted as he righted himself in the air. He grabbed Torque under one arm and readied his shield. Groaning with the airborne contortions Gong forced the metal under his feet.

"Urrgh… HOLD ON!"

Torque held on. They _smashed_ into the thorns below. The horrid vegetation gave way. Spines the size of a sword came inches from their faces. Then they broke out of the thorns and fell. Torque and Gong screamed together as they plunged into the bowels of Avalice's mantle.

All light left them. And they were going way too fast. If they hit the ground at this speed they'd be pulverised. Shield or no. So Torque pulled himself out of Gong's arms.

"TORQUE!" Gong screamed.

Torque wasn't going anywhere. He was improvising. He grabbed Gong under his armpits.

"HANG ON!" he cried.

As Gong braced, Torque activated his boosters and clung on as hard as he could. Every muscle in his upper body strained as the jets struggled with the enormous weight. There was a violent tug on his back, and he could feel his body begin to buckle under the pressure. But he only had to hold for a few seconds. All too soon the jets ran out.

They were falling again. But the boosters had done their job. They had broken the pair's descent by enough critical kilometres. Though Torque felt like he'd had his arms ripped from their sockets.

A few seconds later they hit the ground. Hard. Torque and Gong were nearly launched off into space as the shield bounced up off the rock.

Unfortunately it wasn't hard ground. It was a slope. And it wasn't even a shallow slope. Torque and Gong cried out as they were launched down into the earth at a near-vertical angle. Massive stalactites shot past them in the dark. A terrifying subterranean slalom began as Torque shone his torch ahead as best he could. Down they slid, down into the depths of Avalice.

Gong's shield sparked violently against the ground, the shield making a hideous screeching sound as it slid down the stony ground. He had to twist violently to avoid several pits and spiking columns of stone. There was no way to stop. Torque crouched helplessly behind him.

A massive column loomed in front of them.

"LOOK OUT!" Gong cried.

There was no time to shift out the way. They hit the pillar dead on. Torque was mostly shielded from the impact as he crouched behind Gong's back. But Gong got the full force of it. They smashed straight through the stone and out the other side.

Gong hadn't made it through ok. To Torque's alarm, the giant panda began to sway sideways.

"GENERAL!" Torque cried.

No response. Torque had to pull Gong upright to keep them on course. But he couldn't see where they were going! Trembling, Torque forced himself to stand at his full height. He now had to steer them to safety.

Gong's shield glanced off another stone column. It slowed them down considerably, but it also sent them into a spin. Torque lurched wildly and was almost thrown off as Gong slumped dangerously to one side.

In a draconic effort Torque forced Gong and himself back into an upright position. The tunnel was beginning to flatten out. But it was also starting to narrow and bend. In desperation Torque was forced to use an unconscious Gong as a steering wheel, leaning them around oncoming hazards. One rock wall passed him in the dark. Then a second. They skidded round a third…

...and then they were airborne. Flying through the air into eerie red light. Torque was too terrified to scream. Momentum ceased.

And they fell.

Thankfully not too far this time. They crashed down onto a stone platform before the descent became dangerously fast.

The landing was a spectacular failure. Gong lurched forward and catapulted Torque off of his back. Torque landed in a heap on the stone ground. He wheezed as the impact took the breath from him.

His vision swam. Everything was a haze of red. But they were alive.

At least he hoped they were alive. Gong might not be.

Things began to come back into focus. But the red light didn't go away. At first Torque thought it was artificial. Had they landed on the site of some abandoned technology?

Then things became clearer.

Flowers. Glorious red flowers. Flowers that covered the walls, the entire ceiling and beyond. They were luminescent, bathing the room in a soft red coat of warm light. The entire cavern shimmered _beautifully_ with it. Placid water surrounded them, turned beautiful ruby red in the flower's light.

As Torque staggered to his feet he took the glorious sight in. They'd found what they came for!

Gong was going to be ok. He was going to be ok. He could patch them both up and they'd get back to Milla. Torque didn't know how but he'd find a way. Their mission had succeeded! He laughed with joy.

But then he remembered Carol's warning.

 _"It only grows in dangerous places or places where there's been a lot of fighting…"_

This kind of growth… this sheer mass of red flowers.

Hope turned to dread.

He realised too late why they hadn't found any flowers. It was because they'd all accumulated here. Down in the dark caves beneath Avalice's primordial forests. There was something here. Something really, _really_ bad. Torque knew he was in deadly danger.

Even before he heard water being disturbed behind him.

All around Torque massive trunk-sized tendrils rose. Rose up out of blood red water. Every inch covered in deadly red thorns. There were masses of them, and they surrounded the square rocky platform he had found himself on completely. If anything, they overlapped themselves.

And Torque realised just how in over his head he really was.

The tendrils towered over him. Ten, maybe fifteen times his height? It didn't really matter. He had no response to this.

But he didn't give up on life just then. He still had a role to play, even if it was to die as effectively as possible. Grimly, Torque took up Gong's shield and his own blaster. The shield was enormously heavy, but it might at least keep him alive for a few more seconds.

That was time to at least get off a few shots. Maybe he could at least do the beast some damage. Give Lilac and Carol a chance to escape if they found their way down here. A sliver of hope of survival. Maybe that would be enough to make up for just how badly he'd failed them.

The first tendril shot downwards. Torque fired.

To his relief the blast had some effect. An enormous chunk was blown out of the tendril and it reeled back, flexing itself in agony. The massive vine dropped limply into the water. But another rose to take its place. And then the tendrils surged.

Torque shot desperately as dozens of tendrils shot out towards him. He crouched down beside Gong and held up the shield, using it to protect both of them from attacks to the rear. The attacking tendrils fell back, blasted from the front and repelled from behind.

It was costing Torque dearly. Gong's shield had some kind of shock absorber that took out most of the tendril's strength. And the things seemed to prefer to whip with their serrations rather than crush with sheer weight. If they'd really slammed themselves down Torque would have been flattened. But every impact still made Torque feel like his back was being crushed. It was like trying to parry a steamroller. The impacts were enough to practically bow him to the ground and he cried out under the force of the blows. He was already reeling from the abuses his body had suffered in the fall.

More tentacles took the place of their fallen brethren.

Torque gave them another volley. But this time it wasn't enough. Though several tendrils broke off the attack more surged forward. In desperation Torque was forced to dive out of the way. Away from Gong and out into the open.

With Torque separated from Gong the tentacles surged towards the fallen giant. Longer, stringier tendrils whipped forward to pick the fallen warrior up by the legs. They started tugging him towards the water. Torque desperately turned his fire on the tendrils attacking Gong. The explosions forced them to drop the general. But they'd also drawn Torque's attention. And he was out in the open.

Two massive tentacles curled themselves around him. With a tug, they pulled him into the air.

Torque screamed. Not a cry of fear, but a desperate, harrowing war cry. He squirmed and fought and did everything in his power to try to break out. Every muscle, every fragment of willpower Torque had, it all went towards trying to free himself from the predator that had trapped him.

But it was no use. He couldn't break free. The abomination began to lift him towards the water…

Then, suddenly, he was free. And falling...

He missed the water. Torque screamed as he hit the stone in agony. Something must have given way around his chest because an explosion of pain tore through his ribcage.

He tried to get up, though pain screamed through his body as he did so. That brave decision was ruthlessly vetoed as Gong's massive frame was dropped on top of him. What little oxygen remained in Torque's system was forced out by the impact of over two hundred kilograms of bear flesh, steel and muscle.

As Torque's conscious mind shut down from the shock, he vaguely registered hearing something. Someone calling to him. Or maybe just crying out in anger.

Whoever it was Torque didn't have the capacity to focus on them anymore. He drifted out of consciousness.


	5. Wildcat Rescue Part One

Wildcat Rescue

 _Game Over…_  
 _Continue? Y/N_  
 _9…_  
 _8…_  
 _Y. Loading reserve characters. Carol selected._  
 _Restarting level…_  
 _Tip: Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is hidden. Don't give up just because you're low on health!_

* * *

Carol darted down the forest path.

It was dark here. Even for her. Carol could see, but her colour vision wasn't working anymore. Everything was black and white.

But that didn't worry her. It was a unique window of the world, one she didn't get to experience often. The contrast of white on black, shimmering in the darkness. The outline of a bush, the shape of a tree, an irregularity on the ground that signified a hole or rock. It was almost beautiful. And it all lit up for Carol at night.

In some ways her vision was even sharper than usual. Carol stopped, halted by something she would have missed in the daylight.

An indent in the dirt.

 _"Pit ahead."_

She groaned.

She'd encountered two of these so far. This was the third. Cautiously, Carol loped down the path, anticipating the drop onto sharp thorns. Sure enough, it opened up in front of her.

Thankfully it wasn't very wide. Just deep. Carol leapt across it effortlessly.

 _"Trust Torque to leave a message."_ she thought, smiling a bit with encouragement. _"He knew I couldn't wait."_

The moment turned to worry. Carol started up the path again.

 _"Please be ok…"_

* * *

Carol made fast progress down the path. Torque's thoughtful warnings guided her, even if he probably wouldn't have approved of her solutions at times. Carol hacked through a vine that had the temerity to attack her. And then cut through three more that were lying in ambush around it. Torque would have just avoided it, but that would have taken time. Carol didn't feel she had any of that to waste.

It wasn't as if the things slowed her down. Her claws had hacked through stone walls, heavy machinery and even advanced alien battle armour. These plants couldn't even delay her.

The scent of rotting meat almost did, as did the emblazoned warnings Torque and Gong had scrawled not just on the ground, but in the trees and even on nearby rocks. Carol steered well away from the creepy cave.

She couldn't see anything untoward inside. There were dark shapes hanging down from the ceiling and lumpy bits upon the walls, but it didn't look particularly lethal. Despite this, Carol's nose told her that whatever lay within that cave was extremely dangerous and that she shouldn't go anywhere near. Though if the warnings hadn't been there she might have been tempted to investigate.

She was feeling reasonably calm, despite the obvious danger. Everything seemed to be proceeding quite well for the pair. They'd obviously encountered pitfalls, but they'd dealt with them effectively. They'd even felt relaxed enough to warn her, something she was extremely grateful for. Even if she hadn't really needed the warnings so far they helped put her mind at ease about her companions. At least she was finding signs of them.

Then she came across the burnt out husk of a tree.

It was then that Carol realised her friends might be in a lot more trouble than she'd thought.

She stared in shock as she approached. The tree looked like it had had its roots systematically blasted apart. The branches were all broken off, and the trunk had been incinerated. She was amazed that Torque hadn't started a forest fire.

There were deep imprints in the bark. Round indentations. Gong had obviously attacked the trunk. The cuts were irregular and spaced up and down the tree. Carol had been in enough fights to know that wasn't a good sign. Gong hadn't been aiming these attacks. He'd been desperate.

Carol's sense of assurance melted away as she realised there had been an incredible fight here. At least it didn't look like either of them had been hurt...

Her dread only built as she came across the blasted field of grass.

It had probably been grass. It stunk like burning lawn clippings. Carol crossed the dead field as quickly as possible.

She was stunned quiet by the carnage. What on Avalice had provoked the mild-mannered Torque into such a destructive display? Torque didn't play with his firepower. Carol had seen him use his blaster on exactly one occasion when they were truly desperate. For him to go on a trigger-happy rampage like this…

She hurried on, certain that Torque was in trouble now.

And General Gong too. Despite their adversarial relationship Carol liked the general. He was one of the few people on Avalice who had actually been relatively friendly towards them. And he'd helped stop Brevon too, in his own way.

She ran for a further minute, trying to control her building anxiety.

Instead, it only peaked. A dreadful sensation hit her like a wall.

Burning. The overwhelming _stench_ of burning.

Carol's senses were overpowered by it. She had to fight down her gag reflex just to handle the smell. She slowed down to a walk, her eyes stinging.

Whatever had created this reek wasn't natural. Something was ahead, something bad. She pushed aside one final patch of greenery…

…and stopped dead.

She'd reached the clearing. Or what remained of it.

A massive, burnt out tree stood dead in the middle of the clearing. In all senses of the word.

It seemed to have been incinerated. Like a dread tower of blasted ash, it rose up into the sky. The bark had been stripped off, obliterated by the sheer heat. The living wood beneath was burnt a threatening charcoal black.

Underneath the soot Carol could make out green sores, hideous blisters that wept with sickly green sap. Sap that dripped down the sides of the tree like blood.

The branches were all blackened too. It looked like the fire had spread along its branches. That thing was definitely dead. Carol was certain of that.

She was unable to move for a time, staggered by the catastrophic damage. A terrible, paralysing fear broke over her.

The clearing itself was a mess. The grass was obliterated, replaced by dark, broken and frozen dirt and a smattering of shattered branches. Carol slowly and quietly stepped forward into the chaos, numbed by the sight. She stared at the blasted wooden fragments that covered the ground.

Some of that had been burnt too. Yet strangely, other pieces were simply smashed apart.

Then Carol froze.

She'd seen a piece of cloth. A torn piece of cloth.

 _"Torque?"_ She thought, fearfully. _"Please… no…"_

She picked it up, gingerly examining the torn fragment. In the moonlight of the clearing Carol could see the light green patches.

 _"He's hurt… is he ok? What did this to you buddy?"_

She clenched the garment in her hand. As the full implications of her discovery washed over her Carol had to fight to keep back tears.

Had she been too slow? Carol looked around desperately for other signs. Some other indication that they'd moved away, or hidden somewhere. Maybe they were recuperating just inside the clearing.

A survey of the devastation quickly ruled that last hope out. Torque and Gong were nowhere to be seen.

She bit back a sob. It didn't matter how many fights she got into. She could never get used to this. Her friends getting injured.

Still, Carol forced herself to calm down. She needed to remain focussed!

She looked around at the carnage that surrounded her.

It was obvious there had been a tremendous battle here. The earth itself was scarred, which frightened her more than anything else. Just what had Torque and Gong been in the middle of? What could have caused this kind of devastation?

She took a closer look at the ground.

Deep rents. Rents that sunk far into the ground. Some criss-crossed the ground diagonally, as if something had been dragged along it. But others sunk deep into the soil.

In its frozen state, the holes hadn't closed up naturally. It looked like something had smashed its way through the dirt. So… something had attacked them from below?

Tree roots. Carol remembered the devastated tree from earlier. She was alive to the danger, fearfully anticipating an attack she had no chance of defending against.

But the tree looked dead now, blasted apart by Torque's overwhelming firepower. If anything, it looked like they'd won here!

Maybe everything was ok after all. Torque had taken a cut, but he was fine and they'd moved on. Carol's despair began to turn to hope.

She looked again at the tree. As she looked from it, to the stained garment and then back to the tree again, fear turned to anger. She began to stalk towards it.

When she reached the base anger gave way to rage. Carol gave the tree the hardest kick she could muster. It was hard enough to hurt her feet and splinter the weakened wood.

It was a childish gesture and she knew it. But she was a child. And it made her feel slightly better. She turned away, satisfied with her outburst.

Now she needed to figure out what to do. Carol decided to check the edges of the clearing. If they'd fled she'd probably find signs of them there.

What was that sound?

Like creaking wood. Rising up... right behind her...

Carol froze in place.

Did the tree just lift off the ground?

Slowly, she turned around.

She stared. A giant eyeball stared back.

Carol backed away as fast as she could. A gasp of horror escaped her. She'd have screamed, but her voice seemed to have stopped working. She realised belatedly that the tree wasn't nearly as dead as she'd believed.

Torque had half-finished it. The second eyeball had shrunk down, mutilated to the point where it was hard to recognise. It was bleeding, green viscous goo sliding out of its open wound.

There was no cornea left, and the half-dead tissue twitched grotesquely. Torque's gun had done fine if brutal work. The dark connective tissue attaching it to the tree had begun to shrivel up.

But that still left its vengeful sister.

A dozen green tendrils struck out from under the tree. Carol kicked them away, crushing each one in turn. They weren't that strong. But there was a lot of them. One managed to wrap around her arm.

Carol cried out in pain. She felt burning liquid sink through her fur. She reacted immediately, hacking it off with a swipe of her hand. The tendril flailed limply away, dripping nauseating green ichor.

But the damage had been done. The area was badly irritated and it stung maddeningly. With her arm free she continued to retreat, desperately backing away. She could feel a red welt begin to rise underneath her arm.

These things were covered in a nasty toxin. That was going to sting for at least a couple of days. Unless she got treatment.

She didn't dare turn to run. The tendrils kept coming. Carol struck out just to defend herself, not even trying to do damage. If those things got a good grip on her they'd either tear her apart or let her die an agonising death at the hands of the toxin.

Eventually, Carol managed get away from the tendrils. She forced the last one away with a bludgeoning kick. She'd already done significant damage to them anyway. But Carol's terrified mind didn't register that.

The ground began to shake.

Carol turned to flee, trying to put some distance between herself and the monster. But she was flipped up into the nest of roots. Caught, as helpless as Torque and Gong had been.

Only this time, the eye monster was set on bringing her back.

The roots began to angle steeply upward. Carol began to slide back towards the waiting vines…

Carol wasn't going to wait to become this thing's meal. She cut herself free with her claws. Clinging on to a branch she used her free hand to cut a hole in the roots. And tumbled through the gap.

The wildcat landed with a thump upon the ground. As soon as she felt ground beneath her she kept running.

She'd gotten out just in time. Above her head the tree began to twist its roots around and around in the air. At first she didn't understand what they were doing.

Then they descended. She was enveloped by a storm of whipping branches.

Carol threw herself into a lightning fast mixture of kicks and slashes. She suffered dozens of impacts, but the branches glanced off her claws and boots. Those that weren't serrated immediately and sent flying off in several pieces. She attacked so fast that she effectively put up a wall in front of her.

It was exhausting to maintain. She felt every jarring, jolting impact as the wooden parts shattered off her feet and hands. She wouldn't be able to maintain this much longer. She was already almost out of strength!

The tree slowed down to a stop.

And changed direction.

Carol saved energy. She carefully timed her kicks and cuts to force each branch out the way. But as the storm gathered momentum her movements accelerated. She was soon attacking just to put some kind of defence up in front of her.

Bits of broken wood shattered on her limbs and whipped along her legs and arms. Her body screamed with pain. Already tenderised flesh absorbed stroke after agonising stroke. She'd have been cut to ribbons if it wasn't for her dense coat.

By the time the tree relented, she'd resorted to just her hands. She weakly parried the last few branches, too exhausted to use her legs anymore. She was sore, she was tired and her muscles ached with overuse. Carol whimpered weakly, still suffering from dozens of fresh bruises on her arms and legs.

But creature was losing too much of itself this way. Instead, it decided it was going to melt the aggravation instead. The green sores Carol had understandably mistaken for injuries opened up.

Sickly green sap was launched skyward. It began to rain acid.

Carol sprang out the way of the heavy droplets.

She couldn't avoid every dangerous droplet. Carol soon stunk with the acrid stench of burning hair. It filled her nostrils, joined by the reek of smouldering plastic as the soles of her shoes were slowly eaten away. By the time the bombardment finished Carol was at sea in a hellish miasma of blinding pain and maddening aromas. The stench of her own body burning.

Her coat had saved her from being melted alive. But she wouldn't be that lucky again. If she this didn't end soon this abomination would either exhaust her or reduce her to mush. She had to finish this quickly.

She saw the monster expose itself to look around. Recklessly, she charged.

It was a desperate and ill-thought out decision. Carol didn't get anywhere near her assailant. Instead, the eyeball shielded itself behind it's living fortress. Still she came forward.

If it was going to hide behind that she'd just tear it down! This thing had no idea who it was dealing with! She'd broken enough robots to know that she could deal with any ugly lump of wood!

Then a shadow fell over her.

Seconds later, the monster's tail shattered the earth. Carol barely dived out the way, sprawling in the broken soil. If it had still been the same length it had been during Torque's bout with it she would have been pancaked. As it was the shortened stump just barely failed to crush her legs.

She rolled onto her feet, spitting mud.

She had no idea where the attack had come from. And she had no idea where it had gone. Carol hadn't been able to see the second tree from where she'd been standing. For her this was an unknown, new terror. And while she was distracted the tree assaulted her again.

The roots descended.

It was making its closing moves. As Carol fought for her life she could hear something massive exploding through the soil far away from her. Big pillars of wood were being thrown high into the air.

They slowly overshadowed the battlefield. As she fought desperately for her life she could hear every deafening rupture of the soil. Every single one brought death a little closer. Her death.

It seemed hopeless. But Carol fought on desperately. Giving up just wasn't in her DNA. With escape now impossible she put every inch of herself into not just surviving but attacking this thing. It was just her and the tree now. Her and the tree, and the first one to run out of strength would die.

It wasn't going to be _her_.

The roots were harder to stop this time. Slower, but heavier and harder to cut through as she came closer to the source. Carol's hands and feet erupted into searing agony as massive branch-sized roots broke off. Some broke upon her claws, but each such impact sent screaming waves of agony down into her fingers. She was terrified her claws would start snapping off.

But losing roots so close to the source was hurting the monster too. It couldn't keep this up for ever.

The roots relented just before Carol collapsed from exhaustion. With hundreds of pieces broken now the monster couldn't afford to lose any more. And Carol had closed beneath the range of its massive wooden tail.

Out of options, the monster revealed itself. Carol came face to face with the horror once more.

Eye to eye. Or eyeball to surviving eyeball at least.

But Carol was beyond intimidation. As the explosions closed in behind her she rushed the thing.

The tendrils shot down to tear her apart. But she hacked, clawed and kicked at them . Green ichor flooded the chamber, staining her clothes and fur. She cut her way towards the eyeball, forcing its brutalised defenders out of the way.

Move or die. She had _seconds_ left to end this.

She could feel her heart practically exploding out of her chest with the effort. As she got closer and closer her movements became a blur. Carol pushed herself into overdrive. She was making one last, desperate attempt to kill this thing before it slaughtered her first. The monster was playing the same game. And they were neck and neck.

But Carol's struggles had intelligence behind them. And experience. She'd been in this position before. The eye dilated with fear as the furious wildcat came within kicking distance. Like Brevon it had sacrificed everything to keep her away

And like Brevon everything fell apart. Soon, she was within striking distance.

The revenge was brutal, relentless and merciless. Carol kicked the horror straight in its hideous eyeball. Then she did it again. And again. She rained down savage, brutal, primal blows down upon the defenceless soft tissue, and when her claws were within range she began to hack away with them too. Great rents were left in the eyeball as ichor began to spill out everywhere.

She tore through the cornea. Then into the goopy white tissue below. As Carol went into a feral rage she ran out of eye to tear through.

Instead, she started on the sensitive nervous tissue behind. The brain.

As the soil exploded behind her Carol made one final desperate swing upwards. She severed one last critical pathway...

Silence fell across the battlefield.

It was dead.

She had won.

Carol was coated in gungy, viscous goo. There were holes in her clothes where the acid had landed and her fur felt an inch shorter in places. Her left arm was screaming at her in agony, and there was a nasty swelling that made it feel like it was twice its normal size. Everything except her torso felt like it was on fire. She was sweating uncontrollably.

But she had won.

She was _alive._

Sickly green liquid began to flow down from the ceiling. But it fell harmlessly upon the ground. The acid missed her by a comfortable margin. If she had planned to stay in that horrid place for any length of time it might have been a problem. But the immediate danger was past.

Carol staggered back, too exhausted to feel any fear. Every muscle in her body trembled from shock and overuse. There was an explosion of pain throughout her body, but it seemed dull, tempered somewhat by the blast of adrenaline that had kept her going throughout the fight. The furious strength that had kept her alive left her in an instant.

Her back hit solid wood.

A massive coil of roots arranged into a spike. A danger she hadn't really recognised was there. Carol flinched as she realised she'd been seconds away from being torn apart.

Above her head the monster had split its wooden cover in two. It had broken its host with its own desperate attacks. It too had fought to the death. She'd just fought a little bit better.

It took a solid minute for Carol's brain to start working again. To remember why she was here, and why she'd been fighting for her life. Again. When there was a warm spaceship hanger for her to be sleeping inside.

During that time, she sat in silence. Unable to make a move.

She began to shake. And then cry. A hysterical reaction, brought on from the shock and pain. Her brain was downloading the experience so she could focus on other things.

Like _Torque._

Where was he? Why had he left this hideous _thing_ for her to fight? And worse… what did that mean?

Torque would never have left a creature like this alive if he'd thought she was going to follow him. Which he obviously had. That meant he'd been forced away, wounded. Though at least this thing hadn't _dissolved_ him!

If he and the general had been forced to flee they could have been scattered to the four corners. They could have been separated, they could have been driven into a hole, they could have stumbled upon something dangerous as they'd fled, wounded, into the dark. Carol didn't know if any of that was true, but she still curled up into a trembling ball as she thought through each terrifying possibility.

She knew what she had to do. That hadn't changed. She just didn't know how to begin to do it.

She was utterly exhausted. Her hands and feet were in agony. There were bruises up and down her limbs and she could feel the ground through the weakened soles of her shoes.

But there wasn't anything _broken._

Eventually, she recovered enough to start thinking rationally about the situation. To force herself to quieten down. Carol demonstrated once more what courage was.

She didn't give up.

She got scared. That was normal. Anyone sane would be terrified after going through what she had. But she _kept going._

She forced herself to her feet. Even though her legs felt like they were going to collapse under her. Her face was a mess, so she dried it with her arm. It was unpleasant, but snot on your arm was less distracting than snot on your face. It let her keep moving.

Turning to face the roots she lifted a trembling, hurting claw. She began to hack her way out of her wooden prison, ignoring the complaints from her damaged hands. Slowly at first, and then relentlessly as her willpower returned, Carol cut herself free. She was surprised by how quickly she made progress.

That was all that mattered. You kept going. Even when things looked hopeless. After tearing through just a few rows Carol found herself standing back outside in the forsaken clearing.

She stood there for a while, not quite sure how to proceed. Not just because she still had the same problem but because her mind was effectively working on autopilot. Carol's mind had abandoned the more advanced topic of where Torque could be. It was still working on the basics like _"where do I put this limb next?"_ and _"in what general direction should I be walking in?"_

Eventually, she settled upon the edge of the meadow.

The drop. It was a landmark at least, even if she couldn't quite understand why she was approaching it. What was over the cliff?

But she'd stumbled upon the answer. As sheer luck would have it. The gaping hole in the thorns was as clear as day. Carol stared numbly down as she finally pieced together what had happened.

Torque and Gong had disturbed the monster, just like she had when she'd so stupidly kicked it in the trunk. But it hadn't been weakened and they'd had to fight it at full strength. They'd certainly put up a fight, but neither had been able to beat it.

In desperation they'd thrown themselves off the cliff instead. Or been thrown, though Carol doubted that. Either Gong or Torque had cleared a way through the thorns before they'd plummeted into the pit. That required just a little bit of forward planning.

Right?

That left what to do next. And of course, it was staring her right in the face. Carol couldn't believe what she was thinking.

 _"I have to follow them."_

It was insane. Crazy. Completely beyond consideration. She was going to throw herself into a pit that could lead to anywhere, and probably just terminated upon hard stone. In pursuit of two soldiers, both of whom were much older than her and both of whom were probably dead. This was exactly the kind of stupid, reckless decision Carol scolded Lilac about. Only Lilac had never done anything quite like this. She hadn't committed obvious suicide.

But Carol had been pushed beyond her normal parameters. For once in her life she decided to out-stupid Lilac.

She leapt…

…and begun her terrifying plunge down into the depths of Avalice's crust.


	6. Wildcat Rescue Part Two

Carol's fall nearly ended abruptly as she barely missed the thorns. She accelerated to a terrifying speed. Freezing cold air rushed past her, and she fell faster and faster. She shrieked, certain she was going to be obliterated upon the ground. Desperate, she lunged through the air with her claws outstretched.

Her claws clipped off a rocky wall. The impact sent a sharp, agonising shock through her hand. But her terrified mind blocked it out. Carol jammed her claws into the stone. Her life depended on it.

The force nearly wrenched her claws out of their sockets. The pain nearly made her black out. Carol's eardrums nearly burst with the bloodcurdling sound of metal on stone. Her fingers and claws had to bear the full weight of her body as they tore through the rock at near terminal velocity. But her grip held.

Some of the blinding pain began to subside. The frigid air rushed past her more slowly. Eventually Carol realised numbly that she was sliding down at her normal speed. She was no longer about to die.

Her fingers felt like they were the size of golf balls. But that didn't matter. Carol breathed a sigh of relief as she realised she was going to live. She was sweating buckets, and her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest. But she was alive and falling at a survivable rate. For a few blessed seconds she wondered if the universe was finally beginning to let up.

Then the wall suddenly ended.

She dropped. Carol hit the ground blind. Her feet disappeared beneath her as she was pitched forward into a ball. Carol rolled faster and faster, unable to control her descent. She shot downhill, flying past hazards in the pitch black. Gravity flung her across dangerous pits and nearly bisected her upon their edges. Giant stone pillars missed her by inches at speeds that would have reduced her to mush. Curled into a ball, it was only her toughness that prevented her from becoming a bag of broken bones.

Then the slope suddenly terminated. Carol was flung into the air. She flailed wildly, fighting to regain some kind of control of her movements. She was going to hit the ground! Panic coursed through her as she looked down.

She couldn't quite process what she was seeing. It was like looking into some hellish, red-shifted dimension. Her mind went blank as she saw hundreds of giant vines dancing around a stone platform. The platform below was surrounded by what could have been blood, and a hellish red light illuminated the entire place.

Her eyes saw Torque fighting with two massive vines.

Carol let out a tiny scream as she was thrown into battle. She lunged in mid-air, tearing through Torque's assailants with a sweep of her claws. As the tendrils flailed obscenely he fell to the ground. Carol landed with a thud nearby. She instinctively rolled to absorb the impact, her entire body complaining about the fall. She scratched her knee painfully.

Torque didn't get up. But Carol didn't have any time to worry about him. The tendrils swarmed around her in a terrifying mass. She froze, overwrought with fear, unable to process this much danger. As if to taunt her, the vines chucked Gong the length and breadth of the stone platform. Carol screamed as he landed directly on top of Torque.

Neither of them were getting up. Carol stood there alone in the centre of the platform, petrified. Now that they'd isolated her, the horrors began their attack.

The first three tendrils whipped towards her from different directions. But they didn't do so simultaneously. Carol saw them coming and reacted with lightning speed. She leapt over the first one, ducked the second and rolled out the way of the third. Sheer instinct carried her terrified muscles through the movements.

Before the tendrils could withdraw she hacked into them with her claws. They reeled back, plunging into the water. She could hurt them! To her relief the plants didn't seem to be able to attack all at once. Instead they attacked in waves. Whatever was controlling these things couldn't manipulate two of them simultaneously!

The tendrils fell upon her again. Carol avoided dozens of flailing limbs. She ducked, leapt, rolled and dodged. Then she countered with brutal efficiency. Tendril after tendril reeled back in agony and splashed back into the water.

Eventually the dreadful host withdrew. The vines danced madly, flailing in pain and anger. But the battle wasn't over. They were only changing their strategy. Fresh vines rose overhead. They loomed high up, far above Carol's head. Once they were in position they dropped like rocks.

Carol dove out the way as the impact cracked the stone. But the vines split up after her without so much as a pause. She saw stars as one smashed her across her wounded forehead. She stumbled forwards.

Debilitating pain begin to ripple through her skull. Her head wound screamed, and she nearly passed out from agony alone. The room spun around her, and she reeled like a drunken boxer. The tendrils danced around her. It was almost as if they were mocking her efforts.

Spade's voice echoed through her head.

 _"If you fall down during a fight you're dead. You can either stay on your feet and feel like you're dying, or…"_

You could die.

Carol stayed on her feet. Just. But the things wouldn't leave her alone. They attacked again. She fought back desperately, but it was much harder to dodge. Carol's attacks were weaker and less focussed, and the things more confident. They'd already got the better of her once. Red petals fluttered down from the heavens, but she had no time or chance to use any of them. Sheer survival instinct and thousands of hours of training kept her alive. Her reflexes filled in where her conscious mind had long ceased working.

A tentacle swept low.

Something extremely sharp embedded itself in her leg. It broke off with a terrible snap. Carol toppled over screaming. She shut her eyes, overwhelmed with the worst pain she'd ever felt.

When she opened them again the tendrils loomed over her. About to reduce her to feathering.

Then they exploded.

Carol was barely able to comprehend it. As she lay there seeing double all the tendrils began to explode into pieces.

Or were they being torn apart? There was something purple in their midst. She heard a warcry. A glorious shout she'd given up on ever hearing again.

 _"Cyclone!"_

Lilac.

It was polite to leave a note. Smart, too. Carol might not have saved the day. But she'd held the field. The cavalry had arrived to save the cavalry.

* * *

Carol watched as Lilac spun violently above her head, her hair acting like razor wire. She tore through the vines and threw the pieces around the room. Carol covered her face and tried to protect herself as the dangerous material slammed into the ground around her. The falling pieces of vine piled up on the platform like dead corpses.

There was a colossal racket as the vines flailed wildly in the water. The abomination was in agony. Disjointed tendrils shot in panic across the room, crowding out Carol's sight in a terrifying maze of spiked death. The attacks were poorly aimed, but they were desperate. And there was a lot of them. Carol bit back a sob as she heard Lilac cry out in pain.

But it had only been a glancing blow. Lilac landed on her feet nearby. Carol heard her growl. She didn't even stop to examine the injury. She leapt straight back into battle, hacking a way through the tangled vines with her tendrils. They desperately tried to get back out of her way.

She was far more mobile than Torque or Carol had been. And her spinning attacks allowed her to counterattack in all directions. More tendrils shot towards her, but she just spun faster. Those vines that were on target were torn apart by her own tendrils, and those that missed crossed themselves into a mess. Lilac cut so many apart that the platform was soon smothered in broken plant material.

The infernal organism tried to change tactics. The tendrils rose high, intending to crush Lilac the same way they'd overcome Carol. Even if they missed they'd at least eradicate the other little pains below. Carol saw death rising up above her head. She braced, expecting her killers to shoot down and eradicate her in a moment.

But Lilac leapt up with them. She met the mass of tendrils at their nexus.

She spun wildly. The vines had no momentum with which to meet her deadly weapons. They were thrown to the ground, torn to mutilated shreds. Dozens of vines reeled back decapitated, their pieces piling up upon their fallen brethren below.

Lilac dropped down victoriously, barely scratched. The tendrils began to withdraw under the water. For one glorious moment Carol believed they'd won the battle. That Lilac had pulled them out of the fire.

"You came…" she said weakly.

Lilac started when she heard Carol's voice. She ran over, at Carol's side in moments. Carol cried out when she her face up close. There was a deep, bleeding scratch upon her cheek.

"Of course I did." Lilac whispered. "Just hold still and I'll-"

Whatever Lilac was about to say was cut off by a tremendous earthquake.

She froze. Slowly, she got to her feet. Something was rising from the deep. And it was angry. Carol sat up, trying to ignore the gigantic thorn that had penetrated her leg.

She soon wished she'd just remained lying down.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see that Torque had woken up beside her. He stopped trying to force petal juice down Gong's throat. The alien stared at the water, as terrified as she was. She wanted to say something to him, but her voice seemed to have stopped working. At least they'd be together in their final moments.

They watched as _hundreds_ of vines rose up from the water.

Lilac stood dangerously still. Despite everything she was holding her ground. But what, _what,_ could Lilac possibly do against something like this?

And what rose next was like an omen of the end times. A horrific red maw filled with rows of rotating teeth. A hideous, bloated wooden body stretched out behind it. As far as the eye could see. The mutated trunk terminated in a massive trench cut through the opposite wall. Vile liquid pumped through thick, nauseating veins. It was like some vast wooden serpent. One with too much mouth, and zero eyes.

Red, veiny networks extended out from its body. Each one terminated in a vine. There were hundreds, and each vine was folding, and folding, and folding into tight coils. A massive spiny battering ram that was going to smash the stony platform apart. And _obliterate them._

Carol fell quiet. Torque stared on in despair. Gong might have roared in impotent defiance, had the general been awake to see his doom approaching. But Lilac smiled.

She curled into a ball in mid-air, spinning faster and faster...

…and shot _straight into the beast's mouth._

And through its throat. And its stomach, until she ripped through the wooden bag and out into its hideous cavity. It didn't matter if it was the direct impact of Lilac's final dragon boost, or the trauma that radiated out from around the event. Within seconds, Lilac stopped the work of every single major organ inside the abomination's hideous form.

But Carol went rigid with horror.

All she saw was her best friend disappear into the maw. This was it. _This_ was the worst thing that could have happened.

She looked sideways to see Torque staring with her. He was unable to move from the shock. From the pale green look on the alien's face he was thinking the same thing she was. Lilac had suddenly, heroically and futilely thrown herself to her death.

Then the effect of a dozen ruptured organs chimed in. The tendrils shot up into the air. They spasmed obscenely, went limp and plunged back down into the water. The grotesque horror sunk down below the waves.

But it took Lilac with it. Carol watched as her friend was dragged beneath the waves. She shrieked.

 **"LILAAAAAAAAAAAAAC!"**

 _"No…"_

Carol burst into tears. There was a deathly quiet as the water settled, her sobs the only sound. For few dreadful moments no one could bring themselves to move.

Then Carol tried to move herself. She forced herself towards the water. She was going to try to retrieve Lilac herself. She couldn't let her die. She'd die herself first…

But Torque wouldn't let her. Red flowers had a wondrous effect on a person. Especially when they were combined with desperation. He yelled and forced Gong off of his chest. Carol heard him leap to his feet and sprint towards the water. She was overtaken effortlessly. Torque threw himself into the water, disappearing from view in a split second.

Carol was left stranded upon the stony ground, her leg transfixed by a foreign object. She sat there on the edge of the eerie water, miserable and alone. All she could do was wait helplessly until one or both of them surfaced again.

If either of them ever did...

* * *

Torque looked out at the crimson underworld Lilac had been dragged into.

The creature lay at the bottom. Thankfully it was unmoving. Its enormous girth smothered the stony bed. Red flowers covered every wall and surface around, the gleaming treasures taunting him. They were useless here. Essence wouldn't save you from drowning.

His last breath was already slowly working its way through his system. It wasn't a lot, and he had a lot to do. He had one shot at this. Torque knew he might not make it back. But without a moment's hesitation he dove down.

There was a mass of tendrils in the way of the maw. So Torque pulled out his blaster. He opened fire.

He immediately regretted it. Jets of super-heated water nearly burnt him to a crisp. If he'd been positioned even an inch further over the gun his head would have been reduced to jelly. But the shot worked. A massive chunk of plant material blew off into space. Keeping himself firmly behind his gun, Torque blasted away. Bits of creature flew everywhere.

Torque swam straight into the gaping maw as soon as his path was clear. He swam past the rows of sharp wooden teeth, and then followed Lilac through the hole she'd blasted in the thing's gullet. Green tissue floated out obscenely from the perforated organs. But he forced his way past and down. Down towards the monstrosity's stomach.

He pulled himself through a yellow flood of stomach juices. He had no idea if the cloud would burn him. But he didn't have any other option. Torque prayed his goggles remained watertight as he plunged through the mist.

He gave a mental sigh of relief as he realised his skin hadn't started to burn. The acid had been diluted by water. and it was now substantially weaker. His nose stung, but it was bearable. Torque continued to swim on, even though his lungs were beginning to burn.

He knew he needed oxygen. But he pushed those fears aside. Lilac was the objective. Lilac. Lilac…

He saw her.

She was conscious. Lilac was trapped upon the side of the abomination's stomach. Her foot was caught in a wooden, root-like loop. No matter how much she twisted and turned Lilac couldn't free herself. Torque fought to keep calm. He swam towards her as quickly as he could.

Lilac recognised him at once. Good, that meant she was still fully alert. Torque winced at the ugly cut across her forehead. But he was relieved to see it hadn't had any lasting effect. She gestured for him urgently.

But Torque lacked the tools to deal with the crisis. He didn't carry a knife. He had his gun, which would probably have worked. Unfortunately, plasma would also take off half of Lilac's skin. Though at this point anything was an option…

He hit upon a better solution. It still involved the misapplication of firepower, just with a bit more thought behind it. He adjusted the setting on his blaster.

 _"Wood Flyer."_

This ammo was made up of solid light. It wouldn't superheat the water like his other weapons. Instead it relied on bludgeoning its target into submission.

That might sound a bit tamer than his other weapons, but so did clubs when compared with swords. Beating someone's brains out wasn't any more pleasant than setting them alight. If he got this wrong, he could shatter one or all of their limbs. Torque pointed to his gun, and then to the offending root. Lilac's eyes went wide in alarm.

But she nodded quickly. She understood what was about to happen. That was important. Torque didn't intend to startle her. Any sudden shock and Lilac could inhale water. With his own supply of oxygen the way it was Torque doubted he could pull them both to the surface. He carefully adjusted his aim and position.

Then he fired, and wondered if he'd killed both of them.

He got lucky. The wooden loop came loose without crushing Lilac's ankles. She broke free, twisting up through the water to his level. She was certainly a much better swimmer than he was, elegant and graceful in the water even under current circumstances.

Torque's lungs were burning by this point. He clutched at his neck and indicated that he needed to rise. Fright covered Lilac's face. She got the point.

Without a moment's hesitation she swam upwards. Was she going to leave him there? Torque panicked, the lack of air making him paranoid. He swam upwards to as fast as he could manage. She had to come back! She couldn't just leave him to die! Not after everything!

He realised what Lilac's plan was when she twisted into her dragon boost. Lilac smashed through the ceiling. The wooden tissue split apart, leaving a gaping, grotesque and glorious window to the surface world. Torque wasn't quite sure why she hadn't done that in the first place. It probably had to do with being able to configure her body properly while her foot was trapped. But he didn't care. He summoned the last of his strength and swam up.

He broke out of the abomination's corpse. And then free of the mess of shattered tendrils. Torque batted little bits of broken plant material away with his hands. It cost him precious seconds, but he continued to climb...

As Torque closed towards the surface he began to feel weaker and weaker. His muscles were finally running out of oxygen. He found it harder and harder to move his arms. Then he found it harder and harder to think.

Slowly, he began to sink instead.

Though he didn't realise it. The whole time he fervently believed he was just about to break the surface. It just kept pulling away from him. A comforting final visage before the darkness closed over him forever.

The last thing he felt before he lost consciousness was a pair of lavender arms. They curled around him.

And began to pull him up…


	7. Panic

Panic

Carol was cold.

She trembled. A cold sweat broke out on her brow. Her terror mounted with every second she stared out into the red water.

Fifteen seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Three quarters of a minute.

A minute...

Carol couldn't take any more. She broke down and began to sob into her left knee. They were gone. She was alone. She was trapped in the depths of Avalice with no one to care for her and nowhere to go. With the thorn stuck in her leg she couldn't even heal herself.

In those moments she was just a scared little girl. She cried. She didn't have the strength to do anything else.

She could feel a hideous stinging pain in her leg. Carol's emotional distress became physical torment. She began to whimper through her tears. It was getting worse, and she could feel a sickeningly warm sensation around her lower leg and knee. As the pain began to crescendo she couldn't fight back any longer. Weakly she began to call out.

"…help… it hurts… somebody…"

She wasn't really calling for anyone. There wasn't anyone to come and help. Carol was talking nonsense, and the random pleas were too quiet to be heard anyway. She was venting the pain more than anything else. Her mouth was spitting out whatever random protest her mind could formulate. Carol continued to mumble to herself weakly.

She began to feel a deep, heavy dizziness sink into her every bone. It calmed her, but only because she felt too weak to panic. As a wave of nausea broke over her Carol lifted her head away from her knee. She looked down.

That had been a mistake. Carol saw her leg.

 _"Ohhh… that's a lot of…"_

She fell onto her back. Everything went blurry for a moment.

The fall helped her heart circulate the blood a bit better. Carol's head cleared just enough for the pain and hopelessness of her situation to get the better of her. She cried out in pain. Then she began to sob. The great big racking sobs shook her every muscle. The movement hurt. Every tiny motion sent blinding pain out from her head and leg. But she wasn't able to stop. Panic and hysteria overwhelmed her.

 _"I don't want to die!"_

"Hey…"

Suddenly Carol heard a voice.

Someone had found her. She quietened down. She felt a wave of cold, blessed relief break through the despair and pain. She wasn't alone. She _wasn't_ alone. That meant so much to her...

She was too weak to respond. Two gigantic hands gripped her shoulders lightly. Who was there? She couldn't see...

Gong. She could see him now. Though everything seemed so blurry through her tears. The general leant over her. He was crouched so far over her that he was inches from her face. Their eyes met. Carol whimpered with pain and relief. She closed her eyes. It was becoming harder to keep them open.

"Hey!"

She could feel Gong gently shaking her. Against her better judgement she opened her eyes again. The urge to fall unconscious retreated for a second.

"Stay awake, ok? Don't fall asleep." Gong's voice was so soft she couldn't believe it was the same person speaking. It was gentle, calming and benevolent. It put her at ease.

But it also made her sleepy...

...why was it suddenly so warm?

"Hey!"

...

A scream for help. Lilac was screaming for help. Carol stirred.

Everything was black. Was it night? Where was she? Was she blind? Was this a nightmare? There was the distant sound of surface water being disturbed. Carol heard something big dive into it.

Then she realised her eyes were closed. Weakly, Carol forced them to flutter open.

Everything was a red blur. She heard splashes. They were big splashes, and they were getting closer and closer. Carol could hear panicked, heavy breathing from Lilac and gasps of exertion from Gong. And there was a third object in the water. But she couldn't process what it was. It was probably important though.

There was a joint gasp from both of them as they rolled Torque up onto the stone surface. Finally, Carol remembered him. And she remembered what was happening.

 _Oh no…_

A gigantic splash. Lilac and Gong were hauling themselves out of the water.

Lilac was alive. Warm, happy relief broke over Carol. She shook with it. _Lilac was alive._ Some life returned to Carol. Her worst fear in the world hadn't materialised. Enough hope and energy returned for her to actually feel afraid. What about Torque?

 _"Is he gong to be ok?"_

It was strange. Her leg didn't hurt as much now, even though she could still feel a sickly warm feeling around the area. In fact Carol was having trouble feeling anything at all. The stone ground felt numb below her legs. All she could feel was hard pressure. There was no sensation. Scariest of all was the fact that she couldn't move her legs. She couldn't move much of anything. Even her breaths felt heavy and laboured.

With a tremendous effort Carol managed to prop herself up on her elbows. She needed to see what was going on.

 _"Please, please let him be ok..."_

The room span. Even that weak effort was enough to make vertigo crash over Carol like a wave. Her entire body trembled with the effort. After only a few moments Carol was on the verge of collapsing again. But she powered through it. And that effort gave her the right to see what was going on.

Torque was on his back. He wasn't moving. Carol trembled as she saw how pale his green skin had become. Lilac was taking his pulse. Gong supervised quietly. He wasn't wearing his chest-piece. Carol realised that he must have ditched the heavy armour when he dived in to help.

There was a grave expression on the general's face. But Gong was a sea of calm compared to Lilac. Lilac was repeatedly taking Torque's pulse. And she was spending far too long doing so. Her arms were trembling, and she was clearly on the verge of tears. Carol had never seen her in such a state. Her heart missed a beat as she realised her best friend was panicking.

"Is there a pulse?" Gong asked quietly.

There was no reply. "Is there a pulse?" Gong asked again, firmly this time.

Lilac didn't answer. She began to shake violently. Tears flowed freely down her face.

 _"Lilac!"_

Gong took her by the shoulders and pulled her to attention. Carol winced. That grip looked very tight.

Lilac whimpered, her shoulders stiffening up at the joints. There was a pitiful look of distraught terror on her face. Gong released her. The moment he did so she slumped down on her knees. She didn't need to answer. The miserable fear on Lilac's face told him everything he needed to know. There was a hideous silence as the full implications sunk in. Carol felt her insides curl.

 _"Please… somebody do something."_

"Ok." Gong started gently. "Can you start compressions?" he asked.

Lilac stared back blankly, not comprehending. Gong clarified.

"CPR. _Resuscitation."_

That got through. Lilac nodded quietly. Though she still tremored.

Lilac had always had a certain presence about her, even when she'd just been a kid in the Scarves. Nothing had ever seemed to truly rattle her. Through the most dangerous of times she'd been like an ocean of calm. An example that had reassured Carol, that had given her a foundation. That calm had been something to follow even through their worst moments.

Now she just looked like a kid. A kid just a little bit older than Carol. Lilac was as terrorised and overwhelmed by the situation as Carol was. It was the most vulnerable Carol had ever seen her. There was a dangerously empty look in her eyes. She'd had more life there when they'd pulled her out of Brevon's torture machine. At least there she'd had the inner strength to scream at them to escape.

But she listened. Lilac broke out of Gong's arms and began to pull herself up beside Torque. Carol's heart quavered in pained sympathy as she watched Lilac throw herself into the compressions. Even in her terrified state she got on with the problem. Carol didn't understand. Why was Gong making her do the CPR? Couldn't he do something for a change?

But his reasoning soon became clear. As soon as Gong was satisfied with what Lilac was doing he stood up. He turned towards Carol. She needed help too. And Gong had probably wanted to keep Lilac's attention on just one crisis. He was managing people. That was what a general did.

Gong crouched down beside Carol. Their eyes met again. Carol took some comfort from the attention. Maybe everything was still going to be ok.

"You're awake." he observed. Calm relief flowed through his voice.

Carol felt like her blood was freezing. Every muscle in her body quavered unpredictably and she was barely able to move. But she managed to weakly nod her head. Gong nodded back, closing his eyes for a second in relief. After a moment he began to speak calmly and slowly.

"Ok listen. You've injured your leg quite badly. We need to get it treated. But there's something still inside. We have to get it out first. Understand?"

He waited. Carol realised that he was waiting for her to respond. She nodded.

She was horribly aware of the fact that Lilac was furiously pressing down into Torque's chest. She was pressing so hard that Carol was afraid she was going to break something. Suddenly she turned her head towards them. Carol's heart leapt.

"Am I doing this correctly? I've never actually done-"

Carol winced as Lilac's voice was cut off by a gasp of fright.

"Carol?!" she gasped.

An ice-cold shiver ran through Carol as she heard the mortal terror in Lilac's voice. She must have seen Carol's injury, because she'd stopped the compressions. In fact, she'd stopped moving altogether. Lilac locked up as if every muscle in her body had been paralysed.

Carol trembled weakly, trying to say something. But nothing came. They both just sat there frozen. Lilac's eyes shifted rapidly. They moved from Carol's leg, to Carol and then back to her leg again. She looked like she was about to scream.

Gong decided it was high time to pull her out of it.

"Lilac! Focus on Torque!"

She trembled. A miserable, helpless expression came onto her face. Carol began to fear that Lilac didn't have to confidence to see this through. She'd never panicked over an injury before. But then, she'd never had to deal with anything like this. It was yet another limitation Carol had never seen. Lilac was incredibly brave. But Carol could see the double catastrophe pushing beyond even her reserves of courage and energy. Carol's heart broke as she saw how tired her best friend really was. She was slowly freezing up, unable to keep going through the terror any longer.

What was all this _doing_ to her?

"I don't know what to do…" Lilac complained weakly.

"You're doing _fine_." Gong reassured her gently. "Just keep going!"

Lilac seemed to reflate slightly at that. Just slightly. With a truly miserable expression on her face she returned to pushing Torque's chest down.

She was rallied for the moment. Gong returned his attention to Carol.

"Alright, here's what we're going to do." He grabbed up a fistful of petals into his hands. "I'm going to pull the thorn out. After I do so I'm going to crush these petals and drop the essence into your mouth as fast as I can. You need to drink as fast as possible, ok?"

Carol understood. Fearfully, she nodded. The edges of her vision were going dark. She couldn't keep going much longer. Slowly, so she wasn't surprised, Gong reached over to her side.

Carol felt him grab hold of the thorn. There was a horrible jolt of pain as the object moved slightly inside her. She felt an overwhelming urge to scream, but she forced it back. She didn't want to make this any worse than it had to be. She braced for what she knew was going to be the worst pain in the world. But Gong didn't pull it out just yet.

"Ready?" Gong asked gently.

Carol nodded desperately.

 _"Please just get on with it!"_

Gong nodded. He pulled.

Carol screamed and fell back as she felt the object being tugged from inside her leg. She fought to stay calm as she felt something begin to bubble out of her leg like a brook. Suddenly there was an almighty pressure on top of the wound as Gong forced the injury closed. Carol's entire body shuddered from the pain and force. He was trying to stop the flow.

"Carol!" Lilac screamed.

Carol couldn't see her. She couldn't see if Lilac was still helping Torque. And she couldn't speak either. Carol had been struggling to keep her eyes open before, but now she couldn't close them. Her teeth gritted together in shock. She couldn't drink the petals. A horrid, weak cry escaped her lungs as Gong forced her mouth open…

Red liquid began to pour in. It was weird. Like if you mixed barbecue and sweet and sour sauce together. She knew she should have forced it down her throat. But she didn't have the strength for that. Carol lay helpless, her every muscle frozen with weakness, as Gong force-fed her the medicine. Like she was some kind of bizarre doll.

It was getting harder to hear. She her eyes fell closed without her realising it. She could hear Gong yelling at her to stay awake. Lilac shrieking her name. But it was all getting quieter. Though Lilac was screaming at the top of her lungs, it was as if she was getting further and further away.

 _"CAROL!"_

 _"CAROL!"_

 _"caroool!"_

 _..._

Suddenly, Carol was somewhere else.

Which was very odd.

She was lying face down in a field. Hadn't the cave fallen in? She pulled herself up onto her hands and knees.

"Wha… how did I?"

"CAROL!"

A voice in the distance caught Carol's attention. Lilac was calling for her in panic. Carol pulled herself to her feet. She ran towards her friend as fast as her legs could carry her. But she stumbled. Carol fell to her knees again, her foot caught on a rock.

She heard Lilac call out again. The cry was longer and closer this time.

"CAROOOL!"

Carol wiped tears from her eyes. She remembered. The cave had fallen in. She'd believed she was dead, that they both were. She'd had no way of knowing if Lilac had made it out of the vault in time. As warm relief broke over her she pushed herself to her feet and ran. She saw Lilac scanning the fields in a panic. Immediately Carol called out.

"I'm over here!"

Lilac snapped round. She sprinted towards Carol. The pair were reunited in seconds.

"You made it out!" Carol cried. Relief kept her voice surprisingly weak and quiet. But Lilac beamed with happy relief. She was just glad to see Carol was ok. They were both ok. Everything was going to be alright.

But then Lilac's face fell with alarm.

"Your ear!" she exclaimed, quiet with shock.

Oh… really? Now that she concentrated Carol did feel a stinging pain coming from her left ear. But it didn't feel too serious.

"It's just a scratch." she insisted. "I'm…"

Lilac's face twisted with horror.

Carol could feel it. Her left ear was bleeding. She reached towards it.

Her hand came away smeared with blood.

 _"Wh… what?"_ she thought, panicked and bewildered. _"That's not what-"_

A vine exploded through her chest before she could complete the thought. She felt it coil around her heart. Carol screamed as she was wrenched off her feet. She was pulled down through the soil. The vine pulled her deep into the depths of Avalice.

Lilac screamed after her. But there was nothing she could do. Carol watched Lilac rapidly disappear from view. There was a horrible, screaming pain in her chest. The vine constricted, and she could feel every desperate beat.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The beats got heavier with every passing second.

 _Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

Carol was pulled through one last piece of soil. She plummeted into the void. The pain in her chest got worse. Her heart seemed to swell up.

 **THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.**

It was going to explode out of her chest!

Then Carol plunged into red, misty water. She sank below the surface.

She couldn't breathe! She couldn't feel her heartbeat... Carol's chest exploded into agony. But it soon began to fade. Everything began to go dark. This time, Carol understood that it would be for real. This was finally it.

She was going to die.

It _wasn't fair._

Something slammed into her chest.

 _THUMP._

It hit her so hard Carol was pushed deep down into the water.

 _ **THUMP!**_

 _ **THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.**_

Blow after blow. Carol felt something break. Somehow it didn't hurt.

Then there was nothing. She began to slowly drift down deeper into the water. Darkness closed over her…

A powerful force exploded into her heart and reverberated throughout her entire body. Carol's limbs went rigid with force. She jolted awake again. The shock ended. Carol continued to drift. She began to black out.

Another shock forced her awake. Back into the world…

Her heart started beating…

She could breathe. Even though she was underwater Carol found that she could breathe. But she couldn't move. Weakly, she flopped over onto her belly. As she slowly began to rise, she fell into the dead man's float. Carol closed her eyes.

And this time everything really _did_ go black.


	8. Wake

Wake

The first sensation to return to Carol was the freezing cold mud of the forest.

She lay twisted bizarrely on her side. She could feel her right arm extend away from her with her left arm across. Her legs were crossed, and her head faced the night sky.

 _"I didn't fall like this."_ she thought.

That didn't bother her. She felt too weak to care. She couldn't move a muscle.

She managed to open her eyes. Her vision blurred. She could see green shapes flitter about in front of her. Slowly, they began to take form and substance.

 _"Grass."_ she thought. She couldn't see any trees. _"I'm in a clearing. How did I get here?"_

She felt a tiny bit of strength return. Her arms felt slightly less numb. Carol rolled limply onto her back. Even that took effort. She heard two gasps. People stepped back. They were very close. Two blurry figures loomed over her. They crouched down.

Torque and Gong's features swam into focus.

"You're alive." Torque said. Carol felt warm relief swim from his voice. She winced. He didn't look too well.

"What happened?" Carol asked weakly.

"Your heart stopped." Gong said. His voice was quiet and drawn.

 _"Oh…"_

That would explain why she could barely feel her limbs. She now knew why her friends looked like they'd seen someone come back from the dead. They had.

 _Her._

"Where's Lilac?" Carol asked.

"She's ok." Gong assured her quietly. "She's… had a bit of a fright."

Lilac didn't have frights. Carol instantly read between the lines. Something was horribly wrong.

"I have to talk to her." she said.

She began to force herself up, but Torque pushed her down immediately. Carol was so weak that he barely had to touch her shoulder.

"You need to rest for a while. You need time to recover."

"I need to see her!" Carol complained. "Please… help."

Torque hesitated. Now that he was closer Carol could see that he'd been crying. Still, he acquiesced. As Carol forced herself slowly upwards he supported her back with his arm. With his help she made it to a sitting position.

Her world swam. Nauseating vertigo washed over her. Carol clenched her eyes shut and tried to wall out the waves of sickness. She felt like the world was moving around under her. The threat of blacking out scared her, but she still resisted Torque when he tried to lay her down. Carol slowly forced her body to adapt to the elevation. The dizziness began to subside. The world came back into focus.

"Help me up." Carol ordered.

Torque and Gong exchanged doubtful glances.

"Just _help me up_." Carol insisted.

Torque and Gong were gravely silent, but they respected her wishes. Carol felt two strong pairs of arms grip her under the shoulders. They helped her reach her knees. Then they pulled her up into a crouch. She balanced there on the balls of her feet precariously. Slowly, she began to rise.

She almost collapsed again as her legs gave way immediately. Torque and Gong settled her back down on her knees. Torque made to let her rest, but she gripped his arm.

 _"Please…"_ she begged.

They gave her a second try. Carol rose from her knees back up to a crouch.

She rose from there. Carol felt sure she was going to drop down again. Gong and Torque lifted her no more than a few centimetres at a time. They had to do all the work. Carol's legs were useless. They felt like lead weights, and she'd have had an easier time if they'd been amputated. The nausea reached a crescendo, and she found herself wanting to vomit. She couldn't. Her vision swam, and she knew unconsciousness was approaching. She couldn't even feel how far she'd come.

Until she found herself on her feet again.

It had taken a monumental effort. Carol was still almost fully supported by Torque and Gong. Bile burned the back of her throat, and her vision distorted. Weird, frightening patterns danced before her eyes. They bordered on hallucinations.

 _"Am I permanently injured?"_ she thought fearfully. _"Is this ever going to go away?"_

Slowly, the visions began to clear. The nausea remained, but Carol felt stronger. Her legs actually did some work to support her. She slowly became less dependent on her friends and more able to stand on her own two feet again. Soon, she felt she didn't need help. She weakly shrugged her shoulders. Torque was reluctant, and even Gong hesitated. They let her go. It was her decision.

She nearly dropped again. The weird visions returned. Carol staggered on her feet. She had to use all her concentration just to remain standing. She swayed violently, and Torque and Gong nearly made a grab for her. She leant on her knees for support.

She didn't collapse. Her visions retreated permanently this time. The dizziness began to clear, and even the nausea began to relent. Carol looked around. Her eyes quested for the one person she had put herself through that ordeal for.

They found her quickly. Lilac stood far away. She wasn't distant enough to be disconnected from the group, but she was too far away to speak to comfortably. She had her back turned. Standing upright, she gripped her right arm tensely with her left. She was very, very still. Carol shivered in the wind. Fearfully, she forced herself to straighten up.

"Lilac?" she asked, voice trembling.

Lilac didn't respond. She didn't utter a word. Carol bit back a whimper of fear. This wasn't the Lilac she knew. Lilac had never ignored her when she was hurt. She felt a gloved hand on her shoulder.

"She's in shock, Carol." Torque explained gently.

Carol didn't understand.

"I-is she going to be ok?" she asked. Her voice was almost a whisper.

"Yes," Torque assured her. "But she needs a bit of time. It's probably best if you don't-"

Carol broke away. She shook her head. She stepped away from Torque and let the friendly hand fall by the wayside. Her leaden footsteps closed the gap between them. Lilac's silence terrified her, but she needed to help. She needed to know Lilac was ok.

Before Carol could reach her Lilac twisted round on the spot.

"What were you _thinking?"_

Lilac's violet eyes were wide open, and Carol felt like they were boring into her skull. There was a hideously pained expression on her face. Carol shrank back. Lilac's voice carried a terrible anger, but it was also broken. Her words were overlaid with fear and _betrayal_.

There were deep stains running from her eyes to her cheekbones. She looked like she hadn't slept for a week. Carol hung her head in shame. She'd messed up.

"I thought you were dead." Lilac whispered, trembling. "I thought I'd lost you forever."

Carol said nothing. She sensed there was nothing she could say. Nothing would make this alright.

"Why _didn't_ you wake me up?" Lilac demanded.

Carol heard the hurt and humiliation in Lilac's voice. She flinched. Weakly, she fumbled for excuses. But there were none.

"I woke up with three strange men from Shang Tu shaking my shoulders." Lilac continued. "I didn't know where you were. I didn't know where Torque was. Milla was still unconscious and her drip was empty. And then I found your note…"

Carol bit back a sob. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now she just felt incredibly dumb. Like she'd played some horrible prank.

"I was trying to keep you out of danger." she finally managed.

"By going into danger yourself? And leaving a note, when I could have been by your side from the start?"

Carol was silent.

"Great plan." Lilac sneered.

"I wanted to let you rest." Carol explained weakly. "I thought I'd be back quickly."

"You didn't know what was _there_ Carol." Lilac pointed out coldly.

"Lilac this was my fault-" Torque interrupted.

" _YES_ TORQUE!" Carol flinched as Lilac screamed at him. "IT _WAS!_ "

Torque didn't speak again.

"Did you two learn _nothing_ from what happened to me at the base?" Lilac asked, her voice rising.

"Lilac…" Carol began weakly, trembling.

"DO YOU THINK THIS IS SOME KIND OF GAME?!" Lilac screamed. "SOME KIND OF SICK COMPETITION?!"

"I was trying to be-" Carol began.

"What?" Lilac cut her off ruthlessly. "Like me?! An _idiot?!"_

Carol went deadly still.

"I wanted to-"

"THAT'S JUST GREAT!" Lilac screamed. "I'LL STRAP YOU INTO THE TORTURE MACHINE SO _YOU CAN GET YOUR SKIN BURNT OFF TOO!_ THEN YOU CAN FEEL LIKE A _HERO!"_

The words hit Carol like blows. She shook violently and cried out. _How_ could Lilac use that against her?

"Lilac!" Torque growled. Warning crept into his voice.

Lilac was past listening.

"AND _YOU!"_ she screamed back.

Carol braced for another round of screaming. It didn't come. Instead Lilac just sounded horribly tired.

"Carol's all I have." she said weakly. "And you _nearly took her away from me_."

"Lilac!" Torque protested. "I didn't-"

"You knew she was going to follow you into these woods!" she accused.

Torque said nothing. She was right. Carol heard him sit down, defeated. She continued to quake, unable to say anything. She was still adrift in the wake of Lilac's first horrid outburst. She'd suffered one bad shock too many. They all had.

All included Lilac. She was out of rage. Weakly, she continued.

"I thought you knew better than that. Than me."

The anger was gone, replaced by a horrible guilt and emptiness.

"I'll never forgive you for putting us through this. I'll never forgive myself. I should've left you in that valley!"

"Lilac you don't mean that." Carol shot back, fighting through her tears. "Brevon needed to be-"

"And what does that mean for us, Carol?"

Poison filled the air.

"We _didn't get the Stone back_." Lilac said. Soft as a whisper, and yet the terrible words carried over the entire clearing. Tears begun to flow down her cheeks.

She didn't have to say anything else. Avalice was done for. They'd saved the galaxy, but that meant nothing for a planet that would now have no power. Carol realised belatedly that Lilac was going to have to carry the burden of that for the rest of her life. She would hold herself accountable for every catastrophe the Stone's loss resulted in. The full impact of their failure finally hit home.

Lilac turned to leave them.

"Lilac, wait!" Torque cried out desperately. He sprang to his feet.

Lilac just strode away.

"Leave me alone _Torque_." she said, sobbing. She spat the name out like it was poison.

She wandered off into the bushes. Carol and Torque were left stunned and broken in the clearing. Flotsam in the wake of the storm. Carol knew they should be going after her. She might even be walking into danger. Her mind couldn't process the action. It wasn't just physical weakness. Even if Carol caught up with Lilac, what was she going to say?

What could ever make _this_ right?

"Both of you wait here."

Carol and Torque spun round as Gong spoke.

He'd stayed completely silent through Lilac's tantrum. They regarded him with glassy eyes.

"W-we need to-" Torque began.

"You two aren't going to be able to do any more." Gong observed grimly. "She needs to talk this out with someone less involved. I'll go after her."

"It was your idea to search here in the first place." Carol said. Bitter anger tainted her words.

Gong didn't flinch.

"Yes, you're right." he acknowledged grimly. "Are we going to stand here and play the blame game while Lilac gets further into those woods? Because it's my understanding that blame's the problem." Gong challenged.

Carol was silent. Gong regarded her for a second longer. Then he began to stride forwards. He gave a couple of final directions.

"Torque, look after Carol." he ordered. Carol realised that was more to give him something to take his mind off things than because she actually needed help. "And Carol…"

Gong paused for a second. When he spoke, his voice was gentler.

"…just stay here. Try to keep calm, ok? I'll be back as soon as I can."

Carol didn't answer. She took a seat in the grass and curled up into a miserable ball. Gong didn't have any time left to deal with that. He strode off into the treeline and left the two teenagers alone in the clearing.

They didn't speak again for a long time.


	9. Meltdown

Meltdown

Lilac wiped streams of tears away on her arm as she burst through the forest. She kicked a fallen log so hard it broke in two. Branches broke and scratched against her skin. She suffered dozens of painful cuts and bruises.

She didn't care. Anger, hatred and guilt fought swirled through her mind in an uncontrollable storm. She'd said _horrible_ things to Torque and Carol. Lilac was still angry at them for abandoning her in the spacecraft, but she was ashamed too. She didn't dare go back to face them. She ran away, twisting and turned through the trees at random. She didn't care about where she was going. Eventually she hit something soft and warm. Lilac slumped down against it almost lifelessly.

 _You're a coward._ she thought.

She stared despairingly into space, her mind a complete mess. Lilac normally kept tight control of her emotions, even though her natural calm had been shattered a day ago. Now her façade failed as well. Everything she'd been through in the past few days came back to shatter her identity with the precision of a guided missile.

 _You're a worthless sack of garbage._ she berated herself. _Carol doesn't trust you anymore. You want to know why she doesn't trust you anymore? Its because you're weak. Everything you do just makes things worse._

She shivered in the cold.

 _You can't protect her. You can't even protect yourself. The only reason you're not a corpse or a plaything right now is because you got lucky in that last fight. She had to see that. She had to see it twice. You think she's ever going to look at you the same way again?_

 _You almost got them killed. You almost got yourself killed. All because you're a stupid little girl who think's she smarter than everyone else. They taught you to hide your feelings back at the Scarves, but you don't even know who you are anymore!_

 _So who are you now, Lilac?_

She didn't know anymore, but she knew one thing.

 _You're not a hero. That's for sure._

The Stone was gone. The world would end. Lilac wondered if the three kingdoms would fall when the riots started. Maybe they'd hold out till the food started rotting in people's refrigerators.

 _Your fault._

Her guilt joined the ghosts that had been preying on her for years.

 _It's always been your fault. You dragged her out into the wilds. You've been stealing from the same place for what, three years? How long do you think it would've been before they caught you? They would have dragged her away. Happy one minute and in jail the next, alongside the moron who dragged her along. Either that or we'd have wound up deep in the wilds..._

 _You know you never told her that once. You never even brought it up. Wouldn't she be scared? You were scared. You didn't want to talk about it. You kept telling yourself you could live in that treehouse forever, like some kind of fairy tale. You didn't even make any preparations to leave. If we'd had to run away, we would probably have starved._

 _You're not a hero and you're not clever. You're not even a good friend. Even after all of this, you screamed in her face and ditched her. When she was trying to preserve your worthless hide!_

Lilac stared angrily into space. The cold air of the forest curled around her.

 _And now you're sitting here on your butt waiting for them to come and find you. You've put them in danger again._ She hung her head.

 _I can't just run away. I can't abandon Carol. Even if I don't have anything left to offer her. Maybe I can at least get them somewhere safe..._

At least it was warm here. Warm and soft. Almost…

…furry?

Lilac heard a menacing, guttural growl as the creature uncurled behind her. Its bulk disappeared above her, leaving a chill wind to run down her back. She looked up.

Two gigantic yellow tiger's eyes stared back.

Lilac locked up. She was up against its legs. For the first time in her life her keen combat instincts deserted her. Her eyes darted left... a claw swept towards her. Lilac shut her eyes.

There was a colossal roar. She wasn't dead. Slowly, Lilac opened her eyes.

Standing over her was the colossal frame of General Gong. He'd stopped the creature from tearing her head off with his bare hands. Gong gripped the beast by its claw, his entire body straining to hold it in place.

"Mrrrrgh…" he groaned.

Before Lilac could recover he gripped her arm. She cried out as he physically threw her out the way. She landed in a heap on her back. As she propped herself up on her elbows she saw the monster swing at him with its other claw. Gong blocked it with his free arm. He struggled furiously with the monster. Every muscle in his arms visibly strained under its strength and weight. Lilac could see he was running out of options. He couldn't reach his shield. The head reared back. She cried out in fear.

 _It's going to bite his head off!_

Gong head-butted the thing in the chest. He hit so hard it staggered backwards. Its teeth snapped together so hard Lilac could have sworn she'd heard something break. The jaws missed Gong's head by centimetres. It let out a tremendous roar of pain.

Now that there was some distance between it and them Lilac could make out details of the beast more closely.

It was colossal. This beast was twice Gong's height, and it was much wider. Long yellow fur covered its body. Its coat was reminiscent of a lion's, but its frame was far thicker. A gigantic white tigers head topped its shoulders, and it stood upright like a bear. Huge, ursine claws graced its gigantic muscled shoulders.

"Stay back Lilac!" Gong bellowed.

Lilac didn't argue. She remained frozen in place as Gong took his shield off his back. He squared off against the beast.

The chimera roared and swept forward with its right claw. Lilac expected Gong to block it with his shield. Instead he agilely ducked away under the blow. Lilac belatedly realised why Gong had the reputation he did. She couldn't believe he'd moved so fast. He swung forward with his shield. It impacted. The beast roared in pain as the metal bit into its flesh.

It grabbed the shield. They wrestled for it. Gong strained to keep hold of his weapon. Despite his immense strength, he wasn't able to wrestle this thing to a standstill. The chimera slowly gained ground, pulling it further and further away from his body.

He let go. Suddenly.

The heavy metal circle slammed into the chimera with tremendous force. It yelped. Lilac gave a cry in shock as it dropped down on one knee. Gong fell back, nearly crushing her legs as he did so. Moments later his shield hit him in the chest. He collapsed onto his back with a roar.

"GENERAL!" Lilac screamed.

She had to do something! She tried to get up, but Gong was already half on his feet again. He growled as he held her in place.

"Stay. Where. You are." he ordered.

The chimera rose from its knees. It growled menacingly and advanced. Gong sprung to his feet and charged. This time he didn't waste effort on the claws. He ducked under them and dug his hands into the sides of the chimera itself. Lilac looked on in dumb astonishment as Gong physically wrenched the beast off its feet. He pulled it into the air and held it horizontal to the ground. Then he gave a cry that froze Lilac's blood. Gong _hurled_ the chimera away into the woods. It smashed into the trees behind. Lilac's heart twitched as she heard a pitiful yelp. The chimera rolled to a halt under a cloud of billowing sawdust. It didn't get up.

Gong took up his shield and advanced menacingly. The slow, jovial panda was gone. All Lilac saw was a violent killer. He rose his shield, ready to perform the finishing blow.

"STOP!" Lilac screamed. "YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL IT!"

Gong froze on the cusp of murder.

The chimera looked up at him fearfully and shied away from the fiendish metal disc. It couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Gong was a quarter of its size. How could this bizarre bear possibly hurt it?

Gong relented.

"Get out of here beast. And be glad Lilac was here. If it was up to me you'd be warming the rugs of Shang Tu palace!"

The chimera didn't need telling twice. Even if it couldn't understand the words. It slunk away into the forest, practically prone to the ground. Lilac watched as it disappeared into the wilderness. Gong waited for a moment.

Then he turned to Lilac.

"Heh, piece of cake." he boasted.

Lilac didn't respond. She lay still on the ground, propping herself up on her elbows. She stared into space. Her eyes were wide, and she could feel herself tremble. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gong looking at her. He scared her now.

His face fell when she didn't respond. Lilac wanted to respond, but she couldn't. She felt like the world only extended a few feet around her. Everything beyond that had an unreal and unsettling quality to it. There was a horrid ringing in her ears. It wouldn't go away.

Gong approached gently. He knelt down beside her. She didn't react. He was back, she knew. The normal Gong was back, but she'd felt like she'd seen the truth. She'd seen what really lay behind that gentle exterior, what really lay behind the world. People were animals. Anyone could become a monster, even herself. Brevon's voice rang through her head.

 _What makes you so special?_

"Lilac." Gong said. He gave her a shake by her right shoulder. Lilac didn't respond.

 _I'm nothing special. We're all just violent beasts, running around and trying to settle things by force. He's no different._

Gong tried again.

"Lilac, come on."

 _Please just go away._ she thought miserably. _Leave me alone._

"Can you talk?" he asked.

He didn't shake her again. Lilac remained silent. Maybe if she just shut up he'd leave her alone. Gong stood up, sighing heavily.

"We need to get back to the others. You've… you've had one tremendous fright today."

Lilac's anger ignited.

"Why do you care?"

Her voice was desolate. Gong blinked in surprise. He was quiet. She'd caught him off guard. Before he had a chance to respond Lilac went on.

"We're your enemies. Why do you care?" Lilac asked bitterly.

Tears shone in her eyes. This was the man whose men she'd barely escaped on over a dozen occasions. They weren't exactly close. She regularly stole from the very temple he was supposed to guard. She had no reason to consider him a friend. Ironic, given he'd just saved her life.

Gong seemed to sense how his behaviour had affected her. Quietly, he sat down opposite. Lilac at least appreciated that he kept his distance.

"You really think a few missing crystals makes us enemies?" he asked quietly.

His gentle voice took the edge off her shock. It was enough for her to look away. Lilac studied the ground, a miserable expression on her face. But she didn't feel quite as dead inside. She'd recovered slightly.

"You'd have thrown us in jail if you could." she accused.

"I could have thrown you both in jail two and a half years ago." Gong said bluntly. "You haven't been as careful as you think."

Lilac's chest felt like it had been stung. Her head shot up.

"What?" she cried.

Gong regarded her carefully.

"Come on Lilac, you're not dense. Think about it. Telephone cables, daring heists, visits to nearby towns for supplies, in _broad daylight,_ before disappearing back into that same part of the forest? I know I might look like it sometimes, but I'm not actually an idiot. We've had ideas about where you two were hiding for a while."

Lilac absorbed that information silently. She'd known that deep down, but it was another thing to have it spelled out for you.

"We didn't know how to call you by accident." Gong explained.

He pulled out two documents. Lilac took them. She went numb when she examined their contents.

They were arrest warrants for Lilac Yi and Carol Yi. Lilac One and Carol One. The numbers were there because Gong hadn't known their full names. She stared blankly at two extremely accurate sketches of their faces.

Though the features were much younger. Lilac's tendrils were shorter and she had spikier hair, the purple locks sticking up like quills. She looked like a total dork. Carol's face was tiny, and her giant ears were even larger in proportion to her head. The wildcat had hit a growth spurt over the past two years. A tear trickled down Lilac's face. Carol looked so young and vulnerable here. So did she. They hardly looked like career criminals. Though she had to admit, they didn't exactly look like normal children either. Their expressions and dress marked them out as different.

The documents were dated two and a half years ago. The crimes were laid out clearly. The warrants indicted them for theft, breaking and entering and banditry. There was no signature. Gong had never actually signed these awful documents. Lilac knew he could have, and that he'd been thinking about it.

"You two have been down as persons of concern for some time." Gong explained. "You didn't disappear off the map. Even the villages around knew about the two of you living in the woods. People have been worrying about you for years."

It hit Lilac like a splash of warm water.

 _They're going to pardon us._

She felt a rock drop from her shoulders. Lilac sank down against the ground as tension she'd held onto for years dissipated.

 _We're free. We're not going to jail._ One of her worst fears was never going to happen.

All that was left was the obvious.

"So why are we still free?" she asked. "Why didn't you send men to arrest us?"

"Because what would be the point?" Gong asked. "Go ask the Magister and Neera how that worked out. If I'd pulled you in, you two would just have broken out and fled even deeper into the wilderness. And you could have gotten into real trouble."

Gong grimaced for a moment. "Even if you had stayed put, growing up in jail didn't seem like much of an alternative. It seemed better just to leave you where you were." Gently, he added. "It wasn't like you were really hurting anyone."

Lilac stared numbly at the documents. The full futility of her efforts for the past three years broke over her. She burst into tears.

"I'm an _idi_ -"

"SASH LILAC YOU ARE _NOT_ AN IDIOT!" Gong bellowed.

The force in his voice startled Lilac out of her slump. She quietened down, awed. He spoke with such conviction that she felt stupid for calling herself stupid. She stared back into his eyes, struck completely dumb. It was like he'd flicked a reset switch in her head. Gong continued after a moment's silence.

"The problem is that you're both too clever for your own good." he explained grimly. "You were too young to be by yourselves, but no one could catch you. Even if we did, we didn't know what to do with you, and you didn't trust anyone else enough to approach. I was hoping that if we weren't too overt you would eventually come in on your own."

Lilac looked away as she reflected on that.

 _I sometimes wanted to come in. I wanted to say sorry for stealing. I tried to steal only from the rich. I told myself I was doing the right thing, but all I was doing was helping myself. I was too scared to stop. I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want Carol to go to jail. Even if we stopped stealing, what would we do instead? I don't know how to do anything else._

Gong interrupted her glum meditation.

"What I want to know, Lilac, is why you were out there in the first place."

Lilac grimaced.

 _Because they asked me to help kill someone, and I didn't want to. Instead I made a mess of everything. I always seem to do that._

She could hardly say that. Instead, she looked away.

"I don't know where to go from here." she said quietly. "Maybe… maybe we can still go back."

"Home?" Gong asked gently. Lilac shook her head.

"No. We… we don't have parents. Well Carol probably does. But that's… not likely to be an option either. Even if we can find them."

Gong seemed to wince slightly at that. Almost as if the warrior was in pain. Lilac shifted self-consciously into a ball.

"But we did run away from somewhere else." she whispered.

"The Scarves?" Gong asked. Lilac sighed.

"Good job, you remember what was said a day ago." she snapped.

Her history with a gang of murderers was the last thing she wanted to talk about. Thankfully, Gong didn't probe any further. The conversation had gone on too long.

"Are you ready to go back?" he asked.

Lilac nodded soberly. They got to their feet. Against all odds Lilac actually felt a bit better. She was still scared. She felt more vulnerable than she ever had, but she felt less dead inside. He'd got her talking about herself. She didn't get to do that much, not with adults. She had Carol, but there were things she couldn't talk about with her. As Gong turned to leave, something burst out of Lilac that had been weighing on her since she'd escaped the ship.

"I lost the Kingdom Stone."

Lilac instantly regretted saying that. Gong stopped in his tracks. Sagging, he leant against a nearby tree.

"I know." he said gently.

An unpleasant silence fell between them. Lilac cradled her left arm with her right. Her mind went straight to damage control, but it couldn't offer her anything. She'd said it twice now earnestly. She could never pass it off as a lie now.

"What's going to happen now?" she asked fearfully. Gong sighed.

"We'll adapt Lilac. We didn't always have the Kingdom Stone. We'll survive without it. We've got a much larger population, we're much more organised, and we've still got some technology that doesn't depend on power. It's not going to be easy, but Avalician civilisation isn't going to collapse because of the loss of one magical rock."

As he spoke, Lilac's emotions shifted from shame to humble silence.

She wanted to believe him. She'd had an idealistic view of Avalician royalty before her adventure had started. She used to believe that they'd step into action if a real crisis hit. That had changed fast over the last couple of days. Now she didn't know if she could trust anyone at all.

 _Zao wouldn't even protect us from Shuigang when we were trying to form an alliance._ she thought bitterly. _And when we tried to help the Magister he treated us like dirt. He took our evidence away and then threw us in jail. He didn't even tell us what he was going to do._

 _The Magister is cruel and Zao's an idiot. Both of them are just out for their own kingdoms. And Dail is a complete lunatic._

Lilac noted that she no longer appended their titles before their names. Why should she? They were just people like anyone else. They weren't due any extra respect.

 _And I'm the biggest fool of them all._ she thought miserably.

However, the more she thought about it, the more she realised that didn't add up.

 _The Magister healed me when I was hurt._ she realised. _I thought I'd carry those scars forever. He came up with a plan to stop the war._

She'd never be able to repay him for that. The Magister had healed her painful burns, but he'd done far more than that. He'd handed her back a sense of purpose. With it he'd given her a little bit of the dignity Brevon had stolen as he'd stripped her motivations down to their basest.

 _He agreed to help me. He even admitted he was wrong._ Lilac realised numbly. _He gave me the strength to keep going._

Gong and Zao had led his army against Brevon's forces. Carol and Milla had been with her to the end, even as they'd fallen by a terrible wayside. Torque had got them off the ship when it had been about to explode. Even Neera had picked her up by the side of the lake. If she hadn't Lilac would probably have been recaptured. She shuddered at the thought.

 _We stopped Brevon together. Even if we lost the stone doing so._

Calling everyone around her idiots and morons didn't ring true anymore. Calling herself an idiot didn't ring true either. Her world was more complex.

"You really believe that?" she finally asked.

She was afraid to hope. Gong regarded her grimly, but he spoke with conviction.

"I do Lilac. We're not going to fade away to nothing. But it isn't going to be easy."

Lilac hung her head at that. She accepted his words at face value. She wasn't any stranger to adversity, even before the nightmare kicked off. Gong pushed himself away from the tree, ready to move on.

Then Lilac realised something. Something that really _did_ make it her fault.

"I could have saved it." she cried.

This time Gong did flinch. Lilac quailed guiltily as he stiffened up. She fell back and leant weakly against a tree, staring up at the canopy. This was it. This was where he let her have it. Why wouldn't he? As Gong turned around she braced for the storm.

Instead, he sighed.

"What on Avalice happened up there Lilac?" he asked.

He spoke gently, but his words were heavy and grim. Lilac studied her knees. She thought back to her last awful moments on the dreadnought.

 _I thought Brevon was dead... I ran over to help Carol. Then I heard him get up behind me... he ran away before I could stop him. My stomach was bleeding, but I managed to get the stone out of its holdings._

 _But..._

Lilac began to shake as she relived her memories.

"Carol was hit by the blast... when Brevon's last machine blew up. I couldn't carry them both."

"You had to choose." Gong realised. His voice was so soft it was practically a whisper.

"I chose my friends over the world." Lilac muttered. "What does that say about me?"

"That you care about your friends." Gong answered. "Lilac…"

He stared straight at her. He wanted her to meet his eyes. Reluctantly, Lilac lifted her head. She couldn't stop shaking.

"That was a deeply honourable decision to make."

The emotional dam Lilac had been slowly shoring up burst again. She teared up. Her face contorted.

"Are you going to go to pieces on me?" Gong asked heavily.

His expression told her it was ok if she did, but something clicked inside Lilac's brain.

 _No._

This was about pride. Lilac fought with her emotions. All her training and natural resilience came into play as she forced the emotional geyser down. To her and Gong's astonishment, she managed it. She steadied herself.

"Thank you…" she forced out.

She still shivered, but she felt like she was back. Revived. She felt emotionally exhausted but whole. It was like the cracks in her mind had somehow mended, and the pressure that had created them had been released. They were still there, but the entire structure was no longer about to shatter.

"Alright," Gong said, as reassuringly as he could manage. "Come on. Let's get back."

Sniffling, Lilac nodded. She pushed herself away from the tree. For a few seconds they stood there awkwardly. Lilac didn't quite feel ready to move under her own power yet. She felt like she'd just come back from the dead.

Then everything about their current situation came rushing back. She started.

"Carol!" she yelped.

"You're right." Gong said. "We have to get back, quickly."

Lilac made to dash off. But Gong stopped her with a hand to the shoulder.

"Not that quickly. Let's walk back and not get any more cuts and bruises. You can think about what you want to say. Alright?"

Lilac hung her head and shivered. She was going to have to say a lot, starting with sorry. She nodded, feeling just a little bit more normal. Gong stepped back and motioned for her to go first. He let her go in her own time.

Together, they began to make their way back.

Gong quietly shepherded Lilac towards the clearing. Disaster had been averted. He'd got her back. Gong knew they had to get back out of this place as fast as they could.

 _Carol and Lilac aren't going to survive another shock. Even if they physically live through it. And I don't trust that alien to hold together either. He's way too young, and he doesn't feel like a proper officer. One more incident like that and this group is going to break apart._

He grimaced.

 _I think I'm going to retire once all of this is said and done._

He still technically had four years left. Gong doubted the Magister would protest. Maybe he could live somewhere far enough away from the inevitable torches and pitchforks.


	10. Two Young Fools

Two Young Fools

Carol sat in the mud. She wished she could sink into the mud, like _she_ was mud. She felt horrid.

"THEN YOU CAN FEEL LIKE A _HERO!"_

She shivered. She didn't feel like a hero. She felt smaller than she'd ever felt in her life. She'd heard the raw anger and worry in Lilac's voice, but worse than that she'd heard shame. Lilac had been humiliated. Carol had had no right to charge off like that. Lilac didn't need protecting. She'd needed her friend. She'd needed to know that she could keep Carol safe. After all she'd been through Carol had robbed her of that. It was the nastiest thing she could ever have done.

So why'd she done it?

Pride had played its part. Carol had felt so powerless over the last couple of hours. By going after Torque she'd tried to assert some kind of independence and control. She'd been trying to prove, as much to herself as to anyone else, that Lilac didn't need to deal with every emergency. Carol could save the day too, on her own if necessary.

It hadn't worked. Now Carol felt like she wasn't worth anything at all. Had anything she'd done changed anything? Arguably she'd rescued Lilac from Brevon's base, but she'd abandoned her there in the first place. It had been Spade who had ultimately saved them all from Brevon's clutches. Carol had just wandered straight into a trap. She'd even led Milla there as well. Milla had placed her trust in Carol without a second thought. Carol now felt she'd betrayed that trust.

 _I yelled at Lilac for leading us into danger, but I did the exact same thing to Milla. Unlike me, she couldn't stand up for herself._

So she was good at running for help. That didn't feel like much to be proud of, especially when she needed a ten-year old's help to do it. Carol now felt dependent on her friends. She didn't feel like an equal partner anymore.

That only made her more scared of the fact that those friends now seemed so vulnerable. Lilac the invincible giant had been vanquished. She now seemed small and vulnerable. For the first time she seemed like a child just a few years older than Carol. She could be hurt. She could be worn down too. Lilac had gone through some frightening changes over that last terrifying day. Carol was terrified by what she might be changing into. That lay at the heart of the second gnawing tendril that was slowly eating away at Carol's foundations.

Cold fear.

Carol hadn't been able to take the fact that Lilac might have put herself in danger again. She'd run off to do her own thing. She'd told herself that she was protecting Lilac. Again, Lilac didn't need protecting. Carol had been protecting herself. She'd been running away from her fear. Maybe that was who she was? She ran away from pain.

 _I'm a coward._

She huddled on the ground. She tried to wall out the feelings of inadequacy that were swelling inside her like a tumour. It wasn't working. Tears began to force their way out of her eyes. This time she didn't think she could push them back inside.

She started as Torque sat down beside her.

"Hey." he said gently. "Are you alright?"

Carol didn't answer. She stared miserably into space, trying to battle the cauldron of fear and loneliness that was eating away at her. She could feel him looking at her, studying her face with concern. He could see the tears in her eyes. That was too much. Carol burst into racking sobs.

* * *

"Carol? Carol!" Torque cried, springing to his knees in concern.

Caro didn't respond.

Torque crouched down beside her helplessly.

Carol cried a lot. For a kid who put on such a tough façade she was surprisingly emotional, but she'd never cried quite like this. The shock of Lilac turning on her had done what nothing else could. She was inconsolable. Torque didn't know how to respond. He didn't know if he should. He didn't have any experience with this. Maybe it was just the stress of the last four days working its way out?

Gently, he took one of her hands and gave it a squeeze. It was a painfully awkward gesture. Torque was a young man. He'd never had to deal with anything like this in his life before. However, he connected.

A pair of alien, watery green eyes peered up at him nervously.

"You're going to be ok-"

"I'm scared."

Torque regarded her with silent pity. He knew how hard Carol had fought not to say those two words. He could see the broken pride behind them.

"I want to go home." she sobbed.

Torque tensed up awkwardly. He didn't know what to say. Desperately, he said the first thing that came to his head.

"We will soon Carol. Just once the others are back."

"You don't know that."

Carol spoke quietly, but something menacing pushed the desolation in her voice aside. Torque heard anger.

"You don't know that!" she yelled. "What happened to not making promises?!"

"Carol, it's over!" Torque tried to point out. "We've just got to go-"

"We _thought_ it was over on the ship!" Carol reminded him, furious anger breaking through her tears. "And then all this happened!"

She stood up. Torque followed, alarmed

"How can you say it's all over?! How do you know?!" She demanded.

Torque realised with shame that he didn't.

"We didn't kill Brevon, did we?" Carol cried, terror beginning to overwhelm the anger. "What… what if he comes back? What if he tries to kill us again?"

"He won't Carol." Torque assured her, his voice grim and certain.

Carol's face twisted into a scowl.

"And how can you know that?" She snarled.

"Because he's not stupid enough to hang around." Torque pointed out. "Brevon will be making his way towards the nearest friendly planet he can find. He's not stupid enough to waste time on personal vendettas."

Carol glowered at him. Tears shone on her cheeks.

"And what happens when he finishes that and comes back?" She asked quietly.

Torque knew this was a dangerous question. Carol needed closure to this. Sweat broke out on his brow. He didn't have an easy answer to that. She was right. After all of this he couldn't even promise the nightmare was over!

"I'll make sure he never does." Torque promised quietly. "I swear, Carol."

He battled to keep his own frustration and fear out of his voice. He didn't even sound convincing to himself. Carol looked away for a moment, as if considering that. Then she pushed Torque away from her as hard as she could. Torque overbalanced and toppled to the ground. Suddenly, she was standing over him. For the first time since he'd met her Torque was afraid of Carol. There was a truly dark look on her face. She carried the threat of violence. Young as she was Carol could probably have crushed Torque's head if she wanted to. She was still an alien on a planet filled with many dangerous aliens.

Then Torque heard the fear in Carol's voice.

"You're _not strong enough_ to keep him away!" she yelled.

Even through her rage Carol's voice was breaking. Torque hung his head, blinking rapidly. His dread turned to cold shame.

"You can't even protect yourself! Last time you tried we had to come in and bail you out. And we almost died."

"I'm sorry Carol…" Torque pleaded.

It sounded pathetic. Even to him. Carol regarded him fiercely for a second.

"On your feet." she demanded.

"Huh?" Torque looked up, surprise breaking through his guilt. Carol didn't relent.

"GET UP!"

She pulled on his arm. Torque was dragged to his feet, too stunned to protest. As soon as he was on his feet Carol pushed him away again. He staggered backwards. Carol advanced on him.

"Carol!" he pleaded, alarmed.

"Defend yourself!" Carol demanded. _"Fight back!"_

Torque defended himself. He didn't have a choice, even if he would never raise a fist back.

Carol hit him.

She tried to. He managed to parry the first blow that she threw his way. Carol threw another. Torque backed away. He tried to put some distance between himself and the furious wildcat. Carol kept advancing. It was painfully obvious she wasn't even trying. Torque knew that she wanted him to fight back. He wouldn't. Torque couldn't fight back, not against Carol!

Carol didn't have the heart to really hit him either. Her rage turned to water the instant she realised what she was doing. She relented miserably. Torque watched her slump down utterly defeated. Suddenly, he wished she really had hit him.

"You see?" She said, tears sliding down her face. "You can't even defend yourself against me. And I'm not even trying to hurt you."

Torque felt colour burn his cheeks. He could hear the insecurity in Carol's voice. The complete lack of faith she had in him. It was justified. He felt worthless. How was he supposed to protect someone who was stronger than he was?

"Don't go after Brevon Torque." Carol pleaded quietly. "Go home instead. You're not strong enough. You'll just get hurt."

Carol's helplessness stung Torque. Suddenly, his face hardened.

"Try that again." he demanded.

Carol's eyes widened in surprise.

"Huh?"

"I said try it again!" Torque yelled. "And this time don't go easy on me!"

Carol was stunned. She went rigid at the anger in his voice.

"Torque…" she began.

"I mean it!" Torque yelled. "Come on!"

Carol's voice hardened. She shook her head.

"You can't be serious." she said, upset. "I'll knock your head off."

"Trust me. You won't."

Carol stared. He was so certain. Torque couldn't believe it himself.

"Al… alright." she said.

She advanced. Carol swung as hard as she could, and...

 _THUMP._

Suddenly, she was flat on her back.

Torque had her by the arm, a leg right beside her head. If he'd wanted to, he could have locked her in place.

"Huh?" Carol said.

Torque was staring down at her. He had a grave expression on his face. He'd thrown her over his shoulder.

 _"Did that actually just happen?"_ she thought.

 _"Did I seriously just flip Carol?"_ Torque thought.

He'd shocked himself. He stepped away, worried. He'd thrown Carol onto her back. Her heart hadn't been beating ten minutes ago...

...but Carol got to her feet calmly. Torque was surprised to find that he was calm too. The two allies regarded one another for a moment on equal footing.

Then Carol grinned.

"That. Was. _Awesome!"_ she cried. "Do it again!"

"No, Carol." Torque said. His expression told Carol instantly that it wasn't a feat to be repeated. An awkward silence descended.

"Umm… I didn't know you could do that." Carol acknowledged quietly.

"Wasn't quite sure I could do it myself." Torque replied. "But I wasn't going to let you look at me like that. Like I was a coward."

Carol hung her head. Torque sighed heavily.

"You're right, Carol." He began. "I can't promise you'll be safe. I can't even promise Brevon won't come back for a second try."

Carol continued to look down. She shoved her hands in her pockets.

"But I can promise that I will do my best to ensure he never lays a hand on you or Lilac again. I'll rebuild the Chasers myself if I have to."

Carol regarded him silently. Awed by that commitment. She looked away quickly, fresh tears shimmering in her eyes.

"You're a really brave guy, Torque. I wish I could be that brave." she whispered.

Torque regarded her carefully for a moment.

"You are that brave." he assured her. "You're a lot braver than me. What you did back at the base. That took courage."

"But I'm scared all the time!" Carol said, deep shame creeping into her voice. "With Lilac, it's like it doesn't affect her at _all_!"

Carol locked up, realising how darkly ludicrous what she'd just said was.

"Or at least, I thought it didn't affect her. But even if she was scared, just look at what she's-"

"Carol that's what courage _is_." Torque explained. He spoke quietly but firmly. "True courage anyway."

Carol shivered. A tear broke out and made a path down her cheek. Torque continued.

"Courage isn't about not feeling any fear. Anyone who went through what you guys did would be terrified. If you weren't scared right now, I'd think there was something wrong with your head."

She nodded. Silent.

"How old are you Carol?" Torque asked suddenly.

Carol was a little taken aback by the question.

"Umm… twelve?" She croaked. Torque shook his head in disbelief.

"And how many twelve year olds do you think would throw themselves into a base full of enemy soldiers? Even with a plan?"

Carol looked away. The praise clearly made her uncomfortable. She saw this as her greatest failing. She hesitated.

"I had to save Lilac," she managed finally. "I had to save my friend."

"Yeah, you did," Torque said softly. "And you did, because you love her that much."

Carol gasped. She shivered like she'd been given an electric shock. Weakly, she staggered forward…

…and then buried herself in his chest.

This time Carol really did let go. She cried uncontrollably. Torque comforted her as best he could. There were no words this time. Nothing could be said. She was just a terrified little kid who had latched onto the closest adult figure she trusted. Carol vented all the horrors of the last few days out into the cold winter air. Torque waited her out calmly, trying to fight down his own emotions.

Maybe it wasn't over. Maybe there were more dangers to come. Tomorrow, next week, or two years from now when the nightmares came back. At least Carol was finally getting a chance to express what those terrors meant to her, what they meant to a twelve-year-old child who had been thrown into the middle of a war... a child who had had to fight because there weren't any adults to protect her world. Terror, guilt and loneliness spilled out of her.

* * *

Eventually Carol recovered enough to stop weeping. Torque let her slide gently back out of his embrace. She was quiet. There was a truly miserable expression on her face, but Torque sensed she was finally calm.

"Lilac's taking a long time." she whispered.

Torque considered that. Fear began to creep back into Carol's voice.

"Do you think we should-"

"I know Carol, but it's not a good idea. There's no path, and we could miss them in the dark. I know it's difficult, but we're just going to have to stay put.

Carol looked down uncomfortably. She was still rigid with tension.

"Come on, take a seat." Torque said gently.

She did so. Reluctantly, Carol took a seat in the grass. Tentatively, Torque took a seat behind her. He leant gently against her back. Carol flinched, but she relaxed a bit at the gesture. It was comforting and a bit less intense than speaking face to face. It gave her a bit of privacy for her emotions, but it still afforded her some comfort. Torque was warm. They were silent for a time, sitting back to back.

Torque could feel the growing tension.

"Milla!" Carol burst.

"She's ok, Carol." Torque said quickly.

Carol shivered with insecurity. Torque pressed on.

"Some of the general's soldiers came back with more petals. She's got enough for a while."

That made her feel a little better. Carol's tension dropped. She slumped down, resting her head weakly against his shoulders. Torque bore it. He wasn't used to this. He fought the urge to shift uncomfortably.

"So all of this was for nothing then?" Carol asked.

"Pretty much." Torque said.

Carol didn't miss the bitterness in his voice. He'd been trying to save Milla and to not get them hurt. It had blown up in his face.

"You were just trying to help, Torque." Carol assured him.

She leant forward, taking some of the pressure off his shoulder blades. Torque grimaced.

"I was… obsessed with getting those petals for Milla. And with making sure none of you three had to fight again. I was so absorbed with that that I didn't even realise I was leading you straight into danger."

"I should have woken Lilac," Carol admitted. "I made the same dumb mistake. Thinking I was being brave when I was being stupid," She sighed. "Guess we're both a bit silly, huh?"

Torque's face fell, and he was glad Carol couldn't see him. He knew he owed Carol more respect, but it still stung to fall foul of the same follies as a kid. There was an uncomfortable silence.

"How'd you find us?" Torque asked.

Carol shivered.

"I followed your notes. And then I found that hole you guys made in the thorns."

"Did you leap?" Torque asked. He wasn't quite able to keep the astonishment out of his voice.

"Yeah." Carol admitted. "Pretty dumb, huh?"

"Shoot." Torque cursed quietly. He shook his head. They both remembered that drop in the dark.

"I was forced to jump," Torque explained. "You mean you actually chose to do that?"

"Yup…" Carol said. Her face fell.

"And you say you're not brave. Crazy."

A brief silence fell as the conversation dried up naturally.

"Bravery feels kind of overrated these days." Carol observed.

"It's underrated actually. But you're right, it does need a little bit of thought behind it." Torque explained gently.

There was still no Lilac. The atmosphere began to darken again. Torque was about to press on when Carol broke the silence.

"How old are you, Torque?" She asked suddenly. "You don't seem very old for a commander."

 _"Or a soldier."_ Carol thought quietly. She kept that bit silent.

"How old do you think a commander is supposed to be?" Torque asked. Carol thought she heard a hint of defensiveness in his voice.

"I don't know but old. Like thirty or something." Carol explained.

"Thirty nine's the average actually," Torque informed her, sighing. "But I guess I didn't have much of a choice."

Carol listened sympathetically. She knew what he meant.

 _"None of us really had any choice."_ she thought. _"Unless we wanted Brevon to win."_

"I've only been a commander for a month anyway," Torque explained. "Not that I feel like much of one."

"Buddy, if you start beating yourself up too I'm going to break something," Carol warned. "and there aren't any trees nearby."

"Yes ma'am."

Torque fell silent. Carol continued through the gap provided.

"We're all just doing our best, aren't we?" Carol reflected.

Torque thought about that for a second.

"I lied about my age to join the Chasers." he said suddenly.

An awkward silence descended.

"Oh…" Carol said quietly. "Umm…"

She hesitated.

"How old were you then?" She asked.

"Sixteen." Torque answered. "'About the same age as Lilac I guess. Not that they asked many questions at the time. I guess I wanted to help too. Just like you guys."

"When was that?" Carol asked.

"A year ago."

Carol shivered.

 _A year of this._ she thought. _A year of fighting Brevon. Three days was almost enough to kill us._

That would wear anybody down.. Carol didn't press any further. She didn't ask how Torque became a commander. Blunt common sense filled in the blanks for her. There was only one way a seventeen-year-old could find himself in a position like that.

"I'm really sorry Torque." she whispered.

Torque gave a heavy sigh, his emotions getting the better of him. It only got worse when Carol clutched his hand.

"Listen to me," he said, his voice breaking. "Now I'm tearing up."

Carol said nothing. She didn't know what to say. All she could do was wait quietly for Torque to settle himself down. He was older. He could compose himself, even if the intensity of the grief wasn't any less.

"Torque," she finally began "do you think that maybe we should come-"

"Absolutely not Carol." Torque said instantly.

Carol's face fell.

"It's not because you aren't strong. Or brave," Torque explained. "You're just too young."

Three days ago Carol might have argued with that. Torque continued.

"I couldn't do this again Carol. Not with you guys. There's a galaxy of people out there who will help now that Brevon's fleet is destroyed. You don't need to go to those lengths."

Carol felt a weight drop off her shoulders as he said that. That was really what she needed to hear. She needed to know that there were other, older people out there. Now they could shoulder the responsibility.

At the same time she felt disappointed.

"You're going to have to leave, aren't you?" She said. She couldn't keep a hint of grief out of her voice.

"Yes Carol," Torque said gently. "I am."

"Will you ever come back?"

Torque took a moment to consider that question, and the sheer weight behind it. He wanted to say yes, but it wasn't that simple.

"I can't promise anything Carol." he said finally.

Carol let out a sob. She stirred a little, upset. Torque shut his eyes. This would perhaps be the worst part of all, he knew. He would have to say goodbye without knowing if they would ever meet again. If something terrible happened to him in the meantime, they would never know what had happened. Though they would forever ask themselves.

"Why?" she asked. Hurt.

Torque sighed.

"Carol Avalice is designated as a protected world. Citizens of the alliance… people like me… aren't supposed to interfere. We're supposed to let you develop at your own pace. Figure things out on your own."

"So don't help or anything." Carol said bitterly.

"It's not about that Carol." Torque explained.

He sighed, thinking about how to explain something this complicated.

"Look, imagine if you were living in a small village. You're happy, you're settled, you've found your way and you're steadily building up to bigger and better things."

"Ok." Carol said. He'd made her curious.

"And then all of a sudden these strange people turn up. And they turn your village on its head. They sell your leaders things they don't know how to use, they push their ideas of how things should be done onto your priests and priestesses, and they give your soldiers powerful weapons that they don't know how to wield properly. And they expect you to just know what to do."

"Ok, so there's some new ideas and a few new religions and some powerful weapons," Carol observed. "What's the problem?"

Torque grimaced.

"The problem, Carol, is that when you do that with a world that hasn't discovered space travel yet it starts to cause problems. People start to fight over the new ideas, and then they start to fight using the new weapons they've been given. Then other people from the other planets start taking sides, and they start fighting too. And the people on the first planet tell them to stop, but…"

He sighed.

"At that point it's too late. There are too many angry people with guns pointing them at one another, and too many fragile egos on the line for each side. So the war goes on. And the planet dies." Torque concluded grimly.

Carol was silent for a while after Torque finished speaking. Absorbing that.

"People are pretty dumb, aren't they?" she pondered.

"They can be," Torque observed. "but that's why we have that rule. So planets like Avalice are protected from the sheer amount of stupidity out there."

Carol was taken aback by the bitterness in Torque's voice, but she stayed silent.

"On the other hand…" Torque sighed. "Who knows?"

"What?" Carol asked.

"Avalice… might be a bit of a special case," Torque explained. "I mean, your people have already clearly been affected by alien technology."

"You mean the Kingdom Stone?" Carol asked.

"Well, yes…" Torque began. "…but it's a bit more complicated than that. How many people do you think saw that starship explode Carol? A million? More?"

Carol blinked. She hadn't even thought of that. Torque continued.

"Your people already know aliens exist, and that they can be dangerous. We already don't know what that's going to do. If they haven't been working on it before, I'd imagine your leaders are going to start working on space travel pretty fast."

Carol felt a jolt of excitement at that idea. Then her heart sank.

"But without the Kingdom Stone we'll never…" she broke off. Torque continued.

"That brings me to my next point. The damage we've done to your world. Carol… our war destroyed your most precious artefact. And that comes after you helped damage the cause of one of the most dangerous people in the galaxy. A lot of people are in your debt."

"So you'll help?" Carol perked up.

She felt a little hope return, but it sank down again as Torque gave a heavy sigh.

"Maybe Carol. I don't know. There are a lot of selfish people on the council. And more who just won't think it's a good idea."

Carol's face fell. That fit in all too well with her own experience. She sighed.

"Will you at least try?" she asked finally.

"Yes," Torque promised. He didn't hesitate this time. "If I get the chance, I'll come back. Even if it's just for a little visit."

Carol sighed with relief. That was something then, a little spark of hope for the future.

"So what are you guys going to do once all this is over?" Torque asked gently.

Carol dwelt on that. She hadn't really thought about it. Planning for the future she wasn't sure was even there had seemed like a waste of time.

"I don't know," she began. "Stealing from the temple was the only plan we had. But with the Stone gone…" she broke off.

Her shoulders slumped. Lack of pilgrims was probably going to be the least of their problems.

"Surely you can't go back to stealing after all this. There has to be another way Carol."

Carol brooded. She didn't know what to say to that.

"You think it's bad, don't you? That I'm a thief."

Torque shifted uncomfortably at how bluntly she'd said that. He thought for a moment. He tried to broach the subject diplomatically.

"I just don't think it's fair Carol. You two… you three now. You deserve better than that."

Carol didn't know what to say.

She didn't think about it as a bad way of life, even if it was dangerous sometimes. They could make a decent living at it. Their treehouse in the valley was a lot more comfortable than most houses in town. They weren't rich, far from it, but the wolves weren't exactly at the door either.

They'd been in a little bit of trouble recently. Security at the temple had tightened, and they'd temporarily suspended their raids. They'd been planning something big the day Torque crashed into the valley. It would have restored the war chest a bit.

Torque's next question caught her off-guard.

"Carol, do you three really have no one else? Was it just you two living together in the forest?"

Torque was scared to ask that question. It sounded so obvious and hurtful. Carol considered it for a long time, playing it over in her head. There was a dreadful silence.

Finally, she spoke.

"Listen… you can't tell anyone else about this, ok?" she said nervously.

"Carol?" Torque asked. He was worried about where this was going.

"Please?" Carol pleaded. "Not even Lilac. Especially not Lilac."

Torque tensed up. He didn't like this. If it was big enough for Carol to keep it from Lilac, that meant one of two things. One, it was so awful that Carol was truly ashamed of it. Two, if Lilac found out it could seriously hurt her. Torque considered the possibility that it might be both. And it might have to come out, sooner or later. However, he could tell Carol was about to burst under the pressure of whatever dreadful secret this was. He wasn't prepared to let her shoulder it. He assented nervously.

"Alright," he promised reluctantly. "What is it?"

"I ran away from home."

Torque froze.

 _"Oh no…"_

Behind him, Carol had gone frighteningly still. The horrible confession rang out through the clearing. Every poisonous implication settled over them both. Torque instantly regretted his promise.

"What happened?" Torque whispered. A cloud of black depression settled over him. He struggled to keep a note of anger out of his voice. Carol's voice dropped to a whisper.

"I followed another group of kids back to the base," she explained. "And I kind of just… stayed. I didn't know what I was doing at the time."

They were both silent.

"I guess it just seemed… cooler than back home I guess."

"How old were you?" Torque asked, more sympathetically.

"Six." Carol said.

Even in that one word, Torque could hear the conflict in her voice. He listened intently. Carol went on, her voice breaking.

"I thought about going home sometimes. But I was part of the Scarves then. If Spade had ever found out that I had parents waiting for me, he would have skinned me alive. And if Lilac had known…"

Carol shivered. Torque didn't need to be told.

 _"She'd have dragged her back home herself. Even if it meant crossing all three kingdoms."_ Torque supposed.

Then his mind filled in the last horrible blank.

 _"And then she'd have been all alone. That's why Carol doesn't want her to know."_

Torque broke the horrible silence that fell as fast as possible.

"Carol you need to tell her," he insisted. "She needs to know. You can't hide something like this from her."

"I can't," Carol said, a hint of bitterness in her voice. "If she finds out, she'll blame herself. And I _can't_ do that to her. Especially now." she finished miserably.

Torque's gut twisted. This was a truly horrible situation. Carol must have been carrying that guilt for years. Her parents were probably still looking for her. Torque also wondered if there were any other "orphans" who had stumbled into the Scarves and then simply wound up staying there indefinitely.

On the other hand he knew that if Lilac found out now, after so many bad shocks before…

"I know I'll have to tell her eventually Torque. The truth. But I _can't do it_ right now, not like this. You have to promise me you'll keep this a secret."

Torque made to respond, but before he could say another word…

"Keep what a secret?"

Both of them flinched.

That had been Lilac's voice. She was standing just a few feet away. Neither of them knew how much of that conversation she'd heard.


	11. Supporting Pieces

Supporting Pieces

Carol froze.

Lilac stood quietly with her hand on her hip. She regarded them patiently from above. The anger that had terrified Carol was gone from her voice, but she spoke firmly. Carol knew that she expected an answer. Torque got to his feet a little too quickly.

"Oh, we were just talking about-"

"I ran away from home."

Carol burst. The words escaped her mouth with a yelp. She shot to her feet so fast she almost overbalanced. Slowly, she replayed what she'd just said through her mind. A horrible bolt of dread shot through her. She braced for the explosion to come.

It didn't.

Lilac's reaction built slowly. She went still. Pure, undiluted shock froze her every muscle. It spread across her face. She stared at Carol in shock for a few seconds. Then, her face fell. Lilac studied Carol with a strange, sad, wistful expression. She seemed so tired. Carol felt like she'd been seen for the first time. Her anxiety began to fade away. She knew instantly that Lilac understood. Lilac wasn't going to scream. She wasn't going to shout. She stepped forward…

…and pulled Carol into the gentlest hug she'd ever had in her life.

Lilac was warm. Her heat radiated through Carol and drove the chill of the forest away. A gloved hand gently cradled the back of Carol's head. A second cradled her shoulders. Carol lay her head against Lilac's cheek. She could feel the rise and fall of her chest. She'd _needed_ this. All the stress and terror from the last three days evaporated in an instant. Lilac chased the demons away. Carol finally believed Torque. It was over. She was understood.

Everything was going to be ok.

Lilac held her there for ten full seconds, the longest Carol had ever been held. She wasn't used to this sort of stuff. She instinctively began to break away, but Lilac clung to her.

"Not yet." she whispered. "Just a few more minutes. Please."

Her voice was full of grief. Carol finally realized what was going on.

 _I'm not going to leave you._ she promised silently.

She lay silent in Lilac's arms. She could feel her pulse. Carol went limp. A tear escaped her left eye and ran down her cheek. Lilac held onto her like she was the most precious thing in the world. To Lilac she _was_ the most precious thing in the world. Carol finally knew that.

 _I love you…_

"All this time…" Lilac whispered. "All this time I thought I was protecting you."

* * *

 _Three years ago, in a valley to the south…_

It was raining. Two children huddled round the base of a tree. They fought to keep warm. A young dragon barely into adolescence cradled a tiny wildcat under her arm. She was trying to shield her from the cold. She was losing the battle. Carol shivered violently.

"I-Is this rain ever going t-to l-l-let up?" Carol asked.

She stuttered through the cold. Her teeth chattered together.

"I-I don't know," Lilac answered fearfully. "W-we may have to put up with this f-for the night."

Carol miserably lay her head against Lilac's side. She tried to sleep. Her attempt lasted only a few seconds. Lilac used her own head to nudge Carol's up again.

"Y-you need to stay awake. We can't s-sleep like this."

"W-why?" Carol complained.

Lilac fell silent for a few moments. Carol could tell she was trying to find the words. She already sort of understood, but it was a hard concept to get your head around. Death sounded big when you were nine.

"B-because… if you go to s-sleep right n-n-now… you m-might not…"

Lilac's sentence was cut off. She whimpered with the cold. Carol fearfully tucked herself deeper under Lilac's arm.

"O-ok. I w-won't g-go t-t-to sleep. I pr-pr-promise."

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. They tried to keep as close together as possible. The rain had soaked through their blankets and garments hours ago. Their bags were drenched too. The food Lilac had pilfered from the Scarves' pantry was probably ruined. So was their change of clothes. Carol had had her motorcycle and for a time they'd used it to keep warm. It had run out of fuel. Lilac hadn't brought any petrol with them.

They had nothing. They were out in a storm in the middle of the wilderness, far away from warmth and safety. They had no money, they had no home and they had no food. They had no prospects for earning such things. Worse, Carol didn't even know why they were out here in the first place. A desperate Lilac had woken her by the shoulders. She'd told her they had to leave immediately. They had to leave before Spade got back.

Carol hadn't had any time to grab even a few essential items. Lilac had assured her that she'd taken care of that. It was clear now she hadn't. Before Carol had known what was going on they'd snuck out of the base in the dead of night. They'd fled away through the sewers, on through the streets and out through the front gate of Shang Tu. Lilac hadn't stopped until they were miles away from the city. They'd then wandered through the forest as a cold Spring rainstorm broke.

"L-Lilac?"

Lilac didn't respond.

"LILAC!" Carol screamed.

"Huh?"

Lilac jolted awake. Carol's shivering got worse. She shook from fear more than cold.

"You t-t-told me not to go to sleep." she moaned.

"Oh… right…" Lilac said. "Sorry." her voice was almost a whisper. She sounded disoriented. Carol pushed her slightly. She tried to give her a shake.

"Lilac?"

"Yes?"

"Why? W-why are we out here?"

Lilac stayed silent. She hid her head in her knees. That wasn't an answer to why they were in a strange valley far away from their home. It wasn't an answer to why they were freezing to death. Carol had had enough.

"I want to go home…" she whimpered.

"We can't." Lilac responded bluntly.

Carol's head jolted round.

"W-why?!" she asked angrily.

 _You're supposed to be my friend! Why are you doing this?_

"I-I mean I can't."

Carol was silent. She didn't understand.

"I-I'm done with the Scarves, Carol. Y-you can go b-b-back. I-If you really want to. I-I'll take you b-b-back in the m-m-morning. B-but…"

Lilac's voice failed her again. Carol stayed quiet. She didn't know what to say. What would make things better?

 _We can't stay like this,_ Carol thought. _We need to find a cave or something. This tree isn't enough. We're going to freeze!_

Lilac's voice finally cut through her thoughts.

"I don't want to be a killer."

 _"What?"_

"What?" Carol asked.

Lilac had spoken quietly. For the first time, she'd spoken _angrily._ She continued.

"S-Spade wanted me to do something. W-w-wanted me to h-h-help him set someone u-up. H-he said he trusted me to d-d-do it, and that it was _r-r-really_ important."

"D-did you m-m-mess up?" Carol asked sympathetically.

Lilac fell silent again. Carol wouldn't take that for an answer.

"Lilac..." she insisted.

"I-I c-c-couldn't do it." Lilac whispered.

An uncomfortable silence passed. Carol patiently waited. Lilac continued quietly.

"I-instead I tried to stop him from…"

"Fr-from what?" Carol asked. "Lilac!" Urgency pushed some of the cold away.

"He was g-g-going to k-k-kill someone." Lilac whispered.

Carol fell silent. Her small features twisted in shock.

"Wh-why would Spade-"

"I d-d-don't know, Carol." Lilac answered.

There was a dangerous edge to her voice. Carol judged that this wasn't an angle she wanted to press. The two children sat in miserable, cold silence. The cold rain continued to fall. Carol gave Lilac a sideways glance. She studied her expression. She studied how it changed. Carol saw fear and misery, then determination. Lilac seemed to be coming to a decision?

Then she saw loneliness. Carol saw so much loneliness. Her heart broke. In that moment Lilac seemed like the loneliest person in the world.

"Y-you don't have to c-come with me," Lilac began again. Her voice was a whisper, and she was close to tears. "S-Spade doesn't have a pr-pr-problem with you. If you want, y-you can-"

A little hand on her right shoulder froze her up.

"No." Carol whispered.

She was certain. Lilac visibly relaxed. She shifted guiltily, but warm relief escaped her like an open valve. She wouldn't be alone. Carol would make sure of that.

"We'll m-m-make this work," she continued. "s-s-somehow," she sneezed violently. "But f-first of all we've g-g-got to get out of this rain!"

She paused.

"N-now is there a cave n-n-nearby?" She asked.

If they stayed there, they were going to freeze to death. Nothing Carol said would have mattered. They both looked around desperately for something that could save their lives. The dark forest revealed little. Neither of them wanted to just wander off in a random direction.

Then they found it.

Carol saw it first. It was nestled in one of the trees. Her sharp night vision lit it up like a display of fireworks.

"Lilac… _look_."

It was little more than a shack. The planks were crudely nailed together amongst the branches. However, it had a roof, and it was still standing. The treehouse had probably been abandoned for years. It didn't look like it had been much when it was fully maintained. Whoever had owned it had just saved the lives of two children. They'd just saved the galaxy. Carol and Lilac got up in wordless wonder. They could hardly believe their luck. They staggered towards the safety of the treehouse. There was no ladder.

 _I can climb up with my claws,_ Carol thought to herself. _b_ _ut Lilac..._

"How are you g-going to get up there?" She asked despondently.

Lilac stared up at the obstacle for a second. She gritted her teeth.

"Lilac?!" Carol asked fearfully as the dragon backed up.

"Watch this." Lilac boasted.

She jumped. Carol expected her to just land back down on the ground.

 _What are you doing?_

Her question was soon answered. Lilac curled up into a ball in mid-air. Carol started.

 _Is she hovering? How is she hovering? Surely she's just going to-_

 ** _Whooosh!_**

Carol gaped. Somehow, Lilac had flown all the way up to the entrance of the treehouse. She'd taken flight. That was impossible. Dragons didn't fly! Carol was fairly sure they didn't. She _had_ been fairly sure. She began to doubt reality. She wasn't the only one astounded. Lilac had surprised herself. She staggered on the platform. The landing had unbalanced her. She windmilled her arms. For a horrible moment Carol thought she was going to fall back down. Then she stabilized herself. Lilac turned to face Carol, her eyes wide. She breathed heavily.

"Th-that was amazing!" Carol cried.

Lilac recovered with customary quickness.

"C-come on up!" she insisted. "I-I've been w-w-working on that for a w-while!"

Without a moment's hesitation Carol clambered up after her best friend. They scrambled inside the treehouse and out of the rain. Huddled inside the bare walls they held each other as close as they could. They waited out the violent rainstorm.

Alone.

They had nothing. The warm, familiar world of the Scarves, the long, winding streets of Shang Tu's poorer districts, the markets, rich with the scent of food and safety… they were gone now. That wasn't their world anymore. They'd already been rejected by society. Now they'd been pushed out of its underclass as well. Carol and Lilac would have to live wild. They weren't a part of civilisation anymore.

Instead they'd prey on that civilization, a fitting punishment for throwing them away. They still had each other, and they would survive that first terrible night. Everything would become easier now. Together they'd make improvements and turn this forsaken place into a home. Everything would slowly get better.

Until a ship crash landed in the valley three years later…

* * *

"You were the one protecting _me._ " Lilac said with a broken voice. "You followed me into the valley, even though you didn't want to go. You saved me every time that snake man attacked. You tried to warn me I was going into danger, but I _wouldn't listen._ And you _still_ came after me… even after I abandoned you at the lake…"

She trailed off. Carol's blood ran cold. She pushed out of Lilac's arms. Lilac cried out as she forced her way free, but she kept pushing. She didn't stop until Lilac's arms were on her shoulders.

"What are you _talking_ _about?!_ " Carol cried. "I'm the one who abandoned _you_! I ran away! You _saw_ me!"

They stared at each other. Both girls breathed heavily. Lilac's face was awash with guilt and surprise. Carol was on the brink of panic.

"That wasn't _your fault_." Lilac gasped. "You were _right._ Brevon was leading us straight into a trap, and I was too selfish to care that I _was leading you both right into it!"_

She stared at her feet. Carol trembled. She didn't know what to say. She wanted to make this better. Lilac looked up before she could say anything. A line of tears ran down her left cheek.

"Carol _you saved my life,_ and Milla's too! If you'd followed me into the base…"

Lilac broke eye contact and stared at the ground. She stooped over slightly. Carol watched, paralysed, as her best friend battled with her emotions. Lilac suddenly cried out as if in pain. Carol felt a hand drop from her left shoulder. A wave of sympathy jolted her into action as Lilac stooped dangerously. She grabbed Lilac by the arm and shoulder and pulled her upright.

"Hey!" she said sternly. "Look at me!"

She was shaking like mad. Lilac's behavior frightened her, but she suddenly felt _intense_ anger. How could her friend feel so horrible about herself after everything she'd done? Lilac glanced up for just a second. It was enough. Carol captured her with a glare. _She would put this right._

"We weren't Lilac," she said grimly. "Ok? We weren't."

"You could've been," Lilac countered. "because-"

" _We weren't._ "

Carol cut her off. She gripped Lilac's arm and shoulder so tightly it was probably painful. She released her a bit, but she'd got the point across. Lilac stared. The horrid guilt seemed to retreat. Sadness and regret were all that remained.

"I wanted to keep you safe." Lilac said quietly.

"I know," Carol cried, her voice breaking. "I know… but that's not how this works! We're in this together. We always have been! I thought…" She hesitated. "…I thought you knew that." she ended sadly.

It had always been an uneasy grey area. Carol was Lilac's friend, but she was also three years younger. She supported Lilac, but she also looked up to her as an idol. They were equal fighters and thieves, but Lilac did all the planning. Were they true partners, or was Carol Lilac's dependent? The question had never been properly settled until now. Carol _finally_ asserted herself. She had to.

It showed. Lilac looked at her differently. She scrutinized Carol carefully for a few seconds, as if completely reassessing her. Carol stared right back. She didn't give an inch… and something magical happened. She gained back her _pride._ By acknowledging her as an equal… by admitting her own painful faults, Lilac handed Carol back everything the last three days had steadily worn away. The scars were still there, but Carol felt whole again. If Brevon had landed again, she would have been ready for round two. She stood tall.

It had cost Lilac dearly. She looked away. Crimson shame washed over her cheeks.

"I thought I was protecting you," Lilac croaked. "when I took you from the Scarves."

Her voice began to rise. Carol gripped Lilac helplessly as tears coursed down the dragon's cheeks.

"But the truth is _I_ needed help!" Lilac cried. " _I_ was the one who needed a friend! Back at the Scarves you had food, you had shelter and you had people to look after you! _You even had parents you could have gone back to!"_

"Instead you chose a cabin in the woods, and a _loser_ like me…"

She trailed off. Lilac hung her head.

"You think you're the loser?" Carol growled, indignant. "Just because you try to do the right thing? Just because you care about people even if they're not your friends or family?! Because you _actually try?!_ " Carol's voice rose to a roar. "Lilac, you make me a better person _just by being around!_ "

She fell silent. Lilac stared at Carol. She'd gone frighteningly rigid. Then she screwed up her eyes and looked away. There was one more thing she needed to say. Carol knew what it was. She watched anxiously as Lilac marshalled the last reserves of her strength. Lilac looked Carol in the face one last time. She _told_ her…

"Carol, you have to go home."

It wasn't a negotiation. Lilac's voice was broken yet _so_ _stern_. Carol's eyes went wide. She anxiously studied the tired, drawn expression on her best friend's face. A tidal wave of dread and grief broke through her. Lilac wanted to send her away. That hurt her more than anything else could, but she was also awed. After everything Lilac had been through she still tried to do the right thing. She had the _nerve_ to demand Carol do the right thing. She needed to. It was her last gasp to make sure Carol was ok. Carol wanted to argue, but she couldn't find the grounds. She didn't have the right. What was she supposed to say? She had no good reasons for running away in the first place.

 _They must be worried sick._

Then it was gone. Lilac's strength was spent. Carol saw the beginnings of her collapse. She saw the tremors. She watched Lilac's violet eyes begin to close. Lilac was about to be completely crushed. She'd pushed away the last thing holding her up. Carol said the only thing that could save her. Like a second knight in a chess game she returned the support.

"Then you're coming with me!" she cried.

The words struck Lilac's ears like a thunderclap. She flinched violently. She stared at Carol, speechless. The words sunk in. Lilac's mind began to process the immense implications. She looked away. Her cheeks burned bright red. She began to tremble. Carol tried to intervene. She tried to draw Lilac into a hug, but it was too late. Lilac suddenly dropped to her knees.

She _screamed._

Lilac's anguished cry rang out throughout the clearing. Carol's blood turned to ice. She watched, _terrified,_ as Lilac shook violently upon the ground. Her tears splashed down onto the grass. She clutched it as if she might fall into the sky. Great, racking gasps escaped her lungs. She breathed in and out violently.

Carol froze. Lilac's pure distress overwhelmed her. At the same time, the sudden change of altitude made her harder to approach.

 _I don't know what to do. We need help. She needs help!_

It arrived. Suddenly Torque and Gong were at their sides. Carol had been so focused on Lilac that she'd completely forgot they existed. They'd been there the entire time. For the first time in Carol's life the adults helped. They took charge in moments.

"Lilac!"

Torque got down on his knees. He took Lilac's right hand and gripped her around the shoulder. Carol instinctively followed his lead. She kneeled down and gripped Lilac's left. Gong kept his distance, but he still knelt down nearby. He studied Lilac carefully, trying to stay near enough to support her without being invasive.

" _Lilac?!"_ Carol croaked with terror. She shook almost as badly. A tear ran down her cheek.

 _What's happening to you?_

"It's a stress reaction." Torque said hastily. "She's having a panic attack. She's ok. You're ok Lilac. _You're ok._ Just let it out. You're going to be fine…"

Torque talked constantly to her. He continued to reassure her. Carol watched in terror as Lilac cried out in distress. Her horrid cries died slowly down to moans and whimpers. Carol's panic followed. Her horror ebbed away to leave only burning anxiety. Lilac finally fell silent. Her violent tremors declined to light shaking. The episode passed slowly but surely. Lilac slowly came back. She slowly found her way back to them. Eventually she went still. Every muscle in her body relaxed. Torque lay her down gently upon the ground.

They all crowded around her. Three scared faces stared down at Lilac.

"Lilac _please_ be ok," Carol cried. "I'm _sorry."_

Lilac's terror slowly cleared. She refocused. Her eyes flittered from face to worried face. They alighted on Carol's petrified expression. Neither of them spoke for some time.

"I'm sorry." Lilac said weakly. "I just… do you mean it? Is this really going to work?"

She stared at Carol nervously.

"It _has_ to." Carol insisted. "I'm not going home without you! I _love you_ Lilac! I always will... I always did…"

Carol faded away. Lilac stared. Her eyes were wet and red with tears.

"Are you sure about this _?_ " She asked quietly.

The question was very final. Carol nodded. She'd agree to anything if it meant Lilac would be ok. Going home had terrified her for years, but she'd face that fear. She'd do it for Lilac. Lilac accepted her promise silently. She looked away and stared at the sky.

"I always wanted this." she said quietly. "I just wanted to be _normal._ I just wanted someone to love me for me _._ I always had to earn it."

She couldn't keep a note of bitterness out of her voice. She trailed off for a second. Then she looked at Carol.

"It was staring me in the face the whole time, wasn't it?"

Carol couldn't speak, so Lilac spoke for her.

"I love you."

Silence fell over the gathering. It was a very long time before anyone moved.

* * *

Eventually they had to go. Torque and Carol helped Lilac back to her feet. It was touch and go. Lilac was still extremely shaken.

"We need to get back to Milla," Torque said gravely. "We spent too much time here."

"I'm sorry." Lilac said guiltily.

"Don't be." Gong said gently. "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. It's been one heck of a night. You've been extremely brave. You both have." His eyes met Carol's for a second.

Torque and Carol let Lilac's arms go. She took a moment to get her bearings. She sighed heavily.

"Listen, Carol?" she said anxiously.

"Hmm?"

"There's something I need to tell you when we get back. Something important."

She sounded guilty. Carol raised an eyebrow.

"Can't you tell me now?" she asked quietly.

You could have cut the tension with a knife. No one wanted more secrets now, especially if they were skeletons. Neither Carol nor Lilac noticed, but Torque and Gong flashed one another glances. This was dangerous. Lilac shook her head.

"I'll tell you when we get back Carol. I promise. Just… please," she begged. "Not right now. Ok?"

Carol regarded her sternly for a few moments. She could tell that this was something big. It was probably important. Lilac had been hiding something. After everything that had passed it was an ominous sign. For some reason her red scarf felt rather tight around her neck. She loosened it unconsciously. However, she relented.

"Ok Lilac," she said quietly. "We'll talk once we get back to the ship."

Lilac smiled weakly. Carol looked away, uncertain. She didn't know what was going on. She certainly didn't like it. However, Lilac had only just got back on her feet. Nothing short of a threat to her life could have made Carol confront her about it. Anyway, Milla came first.

"Come on." Torque said quietly. "We need to move."

Lilac gave Carol a last anxious glance before she set off towards the edge of the clearing. Torque followed after her.

"Well done." he whispered as he passed Carol.

Gong left last. He'd been awfully silent. He gave Carol one last look before setting off down the road. Carol followed last. Lilac's last promise lay heavy on her mind. What was the secret? Why couldn't Lilac just say what it was? Carol had been honest. She'd opened her heart. It didn't sit well. Worried and hurt, Carol turned away. She began to catch up with the others.


	12. One Last Sting in the Tail

One Last Sting in the Tail.

Milla awoke to a cold metal ceiling.

 _"No… no no no no no…"_

Did Brevon still have her? Was she still on the ship? She shot up in panic.

She regretted it immediately. Milla stifled a scream. The foreign object in her left arm shifted. She looked down to see red liquid flow into her veins. She'd never seen anything like it. She'd never been in a hospital. The sight of something invading her skin frightened and nauseated her. Scared, she tried to pull it out.

She screamed as the needle shifted inside her vein. The drip came out at an angle. Blood began to seep out of her arm. Pain radiated out from the wound, but Milla was too shocked by the sight of her own blood to do anything except moan ineffectually. She went pale. Her vision darkened, and she felt a wave of sickness wash over her.

She retained just enough awareness to take in the terrifying metal cell. Milla saw metal seats, a metal door, and a strange angled wall on the other side of the room. It was actually the transport's exit ramp, but she didn't know that. To her it just seemed like a steel divider. Blood-red liquid poured out from the drip. An unknown quantity already circulated within her body. She sat atop some kind of scientific work bench… almost like an animal to be dissected. There was only one conclusion she could reach.

 _I'm still on the dreadnought…_

Someone had brought her here. She hadn't been left in the power room. Only one person would have done that. Brevon had won.

 _They're dead,_ She realised. _They're dead, and he's coming back. He saved me for last…_

It was too much to bear. Terror and shock overwhelmed Milla. She blacked out.

...

The smell of red petals wafted past her nose.

Weakly, Milla's eyes fluttered open. That was a more reassuring smell. She could feel a stinging in her arm, but it seemed less intense somehow. For some reason things seemed… less hopeless? She saw the drip lying limp beside her. Red liquid stained the tabletop. Her clothes slowly absorbed the substance, staining them crimson. It spread out in a pool around her right side. It looked like blood... but it wasn't. Milla belatedly realised what she'd pulled out of her arm. She understood why it didn't sting as much.

 _Petal essence,_ she realised. _Someone tried to heal me._

The wind whistled by outside. She could hear the cries of birds. Milla finally realised where she was. She was on Avalice. They'd pulled her out. Even though she'd attacked them, Carol and Lilac had found it in their hearts to pull her out of the ship. They'd saved her life. Milla burst into sobs. She didn't deserve to live after what she'd done…

 _Where are you?_ She pleaded silently. _Why aren't you here? Did they abandon me?_

Milla sobbed. She realised how much sense that made.

 _Why would they_ _ **want**_ _to be my friends after what I did?_ She thought miserably. _I didn't mean to do it. I didn't want to hurt them, but it's still_ _ **my**_ _fault. I should have fought back. I shouldn't have let Brevon control me... they wouldn't have let him control them._

 _I hate him. I just wanted friends! I just got in the way. Now I'll never see them again. I don't want to be alone..._

Something in that horrible scenario didn't add up for Milla.

 _Would they really just abandon me?_ Milla reflected. _They're nice people._ _They were screaming at me to come back. I wanted to stay. I tried. I was just too weak._

Fresh tears forced their way out of her eyes. She remembered blacking out.

 _If they hate me, then why did they take me off the ship? Why did they give me medicine? Why help me at all if they were just going to abandon me again anyway? Why leave me on the ship?_

Milla gasped.

 _I'm still dangerous, aren't I?_ she realised. _I'm going to attack someone again. I could attack_ _ **them**_ _again. That's why they locked me in the ship... and if they come back, I'll be waiting for them. That's why they were healing me. They were trying to hold back the monster!_

A terrible, gripping fear took hold of her. Any moment now her bones would begin to stretch. Her blood would boil, and her flesh would swell. She'd turn back into an abomination.

Milla realised what she had to do.

 _I have to leave them,_ she realised miserably. _I have to go back to the wild, and I can never come back._

Despair washed over her. It wasn't fair. Milla didn't want to go back. She didn't want to be alone again, but what choice did she have? What right did she have to stay after this? She wept silently as she pulled herself up off the counter. She didn't know where to go. Nervously, she tried for the metal door.

She froze at the sound of footsteps.

She was stuck in the middle of the room. She had nowhere to go and nowhere to hide. Those footsteps were heavy. They didn't sound like her friends' footsteps. They sounded horribly like someone else's. Milla began to back away towards the exit ramp. The footsteps were approaching fast. They reached the door. It flew open.

Milla gasped.

She then deflated, shaking. It wasn't Brevon. Instead, a soldier from Shang Tu regarded her coldly through his visor.

"Oh." he spat. "You're awake."

Milla stared wide-eyed at the soldier, her feet against the exit ramp. He had his sword out, and he didn't sound friendly. He didn't sound pleased to see her either. That scared her more than anything else.

 _What did I do?_ She thought immediately. _Whatever it is I'm sorry…_

"You're quite the little coward, aren't you?" The soldier said. "What's wrong, never seen a sword before?"

Milla trembled. She'd seen one knife too many.

"A forgetful little idiot too," the soldier menaced. "Didn't you forget something slightly important while you were up there?"

Milla stared at him blankly.

"Our _Stone,_ _**mutt**_." the soldier demanded. _**"Where is it?"  
**_ _  
_Milla's blood turned to ice.

"I-I'm sorry…" she whispered.

The soldier advanced, a murderous glint in his eyes. Afraid for her life, Milla conjured her shield.

"STAY BACK!" she cried.

The soldier paused. The barrier disconcerted him. Merciless, cold eyes stared out at Milla.

"You've destroyed the world. Do you know that, _pup_?"

"I know," Milla said, distraught. "I'm sorry…"

"Sorry?" the soldier said angrily. "You think _sorry_ is good enough? Now that everyone is going to **die**?"

Milla froze up. Then she slumped down in shame. She shut her eyes, dropped her shield and lowered her head. The soldier advanced. She shook as she waited for the end. She couldn't fight back. What right did she have to? The metal footsteps came closer.

 _I'm sorry._

The soldier loomed over her.

 _I'm sorry I was_ _ **born.**_

The sword didn't fall.

Milla peered out at the armoured giant. He stared down at her. All she could see were his eyes, but they were enough. This person didn't care about her in the slightest.

"Give me your bracelets little girl. Then I'll let you go."

He could have stabbed her in a half second. Milla trembled, but she shook her head.

"I can't." she whispered. You don't-"

The soldier grabbed her wrist. Milla cried out as he tried to force the jewellery off.

 _"No!"_

"NO!" Milla screamed. She pulled away.

Before she realised what was happening the soldier was halfway across the room. He sprawled on his back. She'd hit him with a shield burst. Milla locked up, terrified by what she'd just done. He didn't move. Had she just killed this man?

 _Just die,_ she thought. _Just go away before you hurt anyone else!_ _ **Monster!**_

Then he groaned. Milla shook, relief coursing through her. She wasn't a murderer. She was a failure, a traitor and a bad friend, but she wasn't a murderer. The soldier got to his feet. His shield was badly dented.

"Going to kill me?" He asked breathlessly. "For a bracelet?"

Milla shook her head.

"Y-you don't understand," she croaked. "I'm dangerous. You can't… come… near me!"

Milla's parents had told her never to take those bracelets off. For longer than she could remember she'd never done so. She'd kept that promise all these years. She didn't know what would happen if she broke it. Again, she shook her head. The soldier drew up to his full height. Milla quailed.

 _Please don't attack me again!_

The movement had opened up her injury again. She was vaguely aware of something running down her arm. It stung badly. She felt ill.

"In that case I think you'd better leave little girl," he said coldly. "You don't want to be a danger to anyone else, do you?"

Milla clenched her eyes shut. She tried to fight back the black waves of despair that crashed over her. _This_ was the worst thing anyone could have said.

 _Of course,_ she realised. _He wants you to go away. Why wouldn't he? You're just a danger to everyone else. Go away Milla. Go back to the wild._

She couldn't go through with it! Milla fell to her knees. She burst into tears. She didn't want to be alone! A kind person could have turned things around. Lilac or Torque would have known just what to say. Carol could have helped. This cruel soldier showed her no pity. He drove her over the edge. He marched towards her with his blade drawn. Milla started and covered her head as he punched the wall behind her. She shrieked as the exit ramp fell open behind her. Then she _screamed_ as he grabbed her hair. The soldier threw her bodily from the ship. She flew off the ramp and landed face first in the snow. She lay there, shaking like a leaf.

"Get out of here freak. Don't come back, or we'll kill you!"

Milla pulled herself to her feet. She gave one last desperate, plaintive look to the soldier.

 _Please just let me stay!_ she begged him. _At least let me say good-_

 **"GET!"**

Milla crumpled as his shield hit her square in the torso. He hadn't thrown it with any force, yet it was still enough for pain to ripple through her body. She lay in the snow for a moment, stunned. Deep bruising began to swell up over her sternum.

Then she heard him coming down the gangway. Her last nerve finally broke. Milla ran for her life. She sprinted out into the cold. She wanted to leave the ship as far behind as possible. She ran away from the soldier, she ran away from his knife, and above all she ran away from the hideous, stinging _hatred_ in his eyes. She didn't know or care where she was running to. She knew what she was leaving behind. Friendship. Safety. Above all, she missed company. The three days she'd had those wonderful friends had been the best days of her life... as pathetic as that was. She no longer knew how to live without them. As Milla bounded away through the snow one last horrific realization hit her.

 _I'm never going to see my mommy and daddy again._

The one thing that had kept her going slipped out of her mind. The cold stole it away. Her parents' faces slid out of her mind, replaced by a feeling of utter hopelessness. Milla ran on through the cold and dark. Eventually she figured she'd find some forest or cave and huddle down somewhere for the night. She could shield herself from the freezing weather there, and live out whatever remained of her pathetic life.

What Milla didn't know was that she was heading north. She was approaching Avalice's frozen outer reaches. A cold, hopeless grave awaited her there. She would die alone, believing that she deserved it. Milla was going into desperate danger. The cavalry was still an hour out. Her blood stained the tracks she left in the snow…

* * *

The soldier snorted derisively as he watched the little girl disappear over the horizon. She ran fast. He had to admit that. He wasn't even sure if a vehicle could keep up with her, she was moving so quickly. He noted her direction with amusement.

 _Stupid brat._ he thought. _If she'd just listened, I would have pointed her in a safe direction. Instead she made me throw her off the ship. Pathetic._

She'd probably freeze to death in the northern wastelands. The soldier returned to the ship. He didn't care. However, he didn't close the ramp just yet. There was something else he needed to take care of first. In fact, he'd just gotten an idea. Casually he strode through the door to the cockpit...

...and stared down at his two comrades as they struggled furiously with their bindings.

"Well, I tried to warn you," he said casually. "I tried to tell you both that the world is coming to an end. We need to look out for ourselves now, don't we?"

The soldiers flashed the sociopath furious, defiant looks. They'd heard what had happened in the hold. He'd betrayed that little girl's trust. They'd promised her friend that they'd keep her safe. Their anger didn't help. Instead, it gave the traitor an idea.

"Now, are we still broken up about that kid? Come on, you don't think she was worth anything, do you?"

It was calculated to make them angrier. It succeeded. The older of the two soldiers roared at him through his gag.

"Those brats let the Kingdom Stone get destroyed. Killing them now before everyone finds out would be a mercy. But since you care about them so much…"

He picked the fuming soldiers up. One at a time he dumped them off the ship. He then dragged them to the jeep. He threw them in. He made sure his sword was drawn. Then he pulled down the gag of the older soldier.

"Here's my last order," he mocked. "I'm going to borrow the ship if you don't mind. Got to get out of the Three Kingdoms before they collapse. But I've got one more mission for you if you're interested."

"I'll cut your throat out Wei," the soldier spat. "You'd better not be here when the general comes back!"

That was exactly what Wei was afraid of. He decided it was time to accelerate things.

"Yes… be that as it may I have no intentions of staying here. However, you do seem to care about that little girl. I thought I'd give you a chance to save her."

He cut the soldier's hands free. The man went straight for his throat.

"Ah ah ah!" Wei teased. He effortlessly backed out of range. "Most unbecoming of you to assault your commanding officer."

"You're not an officer Wei," the soldier taunted, as he struggled with his feet bindings. "and you're not my sergeant either."

Wei dropped the funny act.

"She's running north, and you're wasting time struggling with me. I've got a sword here, and you don't. You really want to risk getting killed?" He sneered. "She'll be all alone then."

The soldier stopped trying to force the knots on his legs open. He hesitated.

"Curse you…" he spat.

"Believe me Shun, I've heard that many times from people a lot smarter than you. It never seems to stick. Now enjoy your tour of the north pole."

Wei laughed. He left the soldier to slowly disentangle himself from the rope. He strode back towards the ship.

He had many reasons to be pleased with himself as the ramp slammed shut behind him. Milla had seemed like an annoyance at first, but that shield had been awfully dangerous. It would have been quite nasty if she'd woken up and realised what was going on mid-flight. Worse, she could have revealed how "dangerous" she really was. That dragon had been playing with fire.

Not only had he rid himself of that danger, he'd gotten rid of his troublesome colleagues too. They'd been too stupid to realise that civilisation's impending collapse released them from their oaths. Now he didn't have to bother with killing them. There were lands beyond the Three Kingdoms, ones that remembered how to live without that magic rock. With this spacecraft in his hands he could travel to any one of them. Wei would get ahead of the curve before the riots began in the three cities. The refugees would soon begin to pour outwards. It was essential he escaped before the borders closed.

He saw himself as a very enterprising man. He'd positioned himself perfectly to survive the coming storm. A survivor, that's what he was. Other people could try to salvage obvious sinking ships. Yes, he was very clever. He returned to the cockpit, ready to make his escape.

Then he realised he didn't know how to start the ship.

 _"Ah."_ he thought.

This could be a problem. Especially since he'd just let his former comrades drive away. They'd taken the only jeep available. How long until the general returned from the forest? He'd have two, maybe three super powered teenagers in tow?

Wei had to admit, he was starting to sweat slightly.

* * *

Lilac knew instantly that something was wrong. They'd pulled up outside the ship. She leapt out.

"What is it?" Gong asked.

He didn't kill the engine. Lilac stared at the ground as if it was on fire. Gong couldn't see what she was looking at so intently.

"They've taken the jeep. Your men. I left them with Milla!" Lilac explained frantically.

Gong tensed up. That wasn't good. Behind him Carol and Torque exchanged worried glances.

"Maybe they had to go get something?" Carol asked.

Gong shook his head.

"Those tracks are going north." he explained as he got out of the vehicle. "There's nothing out there but ice and snowstorms."

Carol shivered. Her apprehension grew by the second.

"What are they doing-"

"Aah!"

Lilac cried out.

"What? What is it?" Torque asked. His voice rose with worry.

Carol left the vehicle like it was on fire. Lilac slowly and fearfully crossed the distance between herself and the tracks. She examined something on the ground. Then she fell to her knees.

"Lilac?" Carol asked fearfully.

All three of her companions rushed over to where she'd fallen. They gasped at what they saw. Specks of Milla's blood stained the snow. They extended out north. They were small but distinct. No one could mistake those paw prints.

"No…" Lilac whispered. "please… _Milla…"_

Torque tried to take charge.

"We have to get after them," he ordered. "Back to the-"

 ***CRASH***

The spacecraft door fell open. They turned to see a lone soldier from Shang Tu try to leave the ship. He froze when he saw them. Everyone regarded him coldly.

"Ah!" Wei said hastily, feigning relief. "I'm glad you're back general! We need your help."

"What happened?" Gong snarled.

Lilac glared _venomously_ behind him.

"She ran off general! We tried to stop her, but she had a shield! We couldn't-"

"Liar."

Lilac strode forward. She had a dark expression on her face. Wei shrank back. He hesitated as the furious dragon began to stalk up the exit ramp towards him. Carol and Torque looked on nervously. Gong followed behind her. None of them liked where this was going.

"She was trying to escape, huh?" Lilac asked, her voice falsely casual. "Any idea why?"

She stepped forward. Lilac exuded _menace_ through her outwardly calm demeanour _._ Sweat broke out on Wei's forehead.

"She… she said she was dangerous," he said nervously. "She didn't want to hurt us."

It was a good lie. It stayed close to the truth. Everyone bought it. Cold shock ran through the gathering, followed by pity. Some of the tension seemed to dissipate.

Then Lilac observed a small, crucial detail.

"She didn't want to hurt you?" she asked calmly.

Then her voice suddenly rose to fury pitch.

 **"Then what's that dent in your shield?"**

Every face behind Lilac hardened in dawning, outraged comprehension. Wei realised he'd been rumbled. He reached furiously for a response. Surely the correct lie could get him out of this?

"She… she attacked us when we tried to approach. Because she was…"

Wrong answer.

Lilac had wrapped a tendril round his throat. Everyone gasped as she lifted him into the air. He might as well have been paper. Wei choked and clutched at his throat. His weapons dropped to his side.

"Lilac, stop!" Gong cried. "That's **murder!** "

Lilac was past listening. She constricted her tendril further. Wei tried to cry out. All that escaped was a desperate, hideous gargle. Lilac's voice was as hard and cold as ice.

"Before you attacked a little girl you should have asked yourself one very important question. What gave you the-"

 _"What makes you so special?"_

Lilac dropped Wei like a sack of rocks.

She stumbled back. She realized belatedly whose voice she'd been using. A horrific cry pierced her ears.

"Eeehhhhh… MRRRRRRRGH!"

Wei clutched at his throat. He held out a desperate arm for help. He still couldn't breathe! Lilac stared, eyes wide with horror, as Torque rushed up the ramp past her. She saw him pull the panda's helmet off. She watched as Wei's face twisted in fear and agony. She could see him pleading for help. Only a gargle escaped his lungs. The world around seemed to fade away from Lilac. There was a terrible ringing in her ears.

"I… I didn't mean to-" she began.

She hadn't known her own strength.

"His airway's crushed!" Torque cried desperately. "I need a knife!"

 _A tracheotomy,_ Lilac realised as her blood ran cold. _They're going to cut his throat open._

No one had any knives to offer, so Torque picked up the sword instead. Mercifully Lilac couldn't see what he was doing.

"Get me a tube!" Torque cried. "A plastic tube! Anything you can get!"

"I'll search the ship!" Gong assured him. He strode up the ramp.

"Easy Lilac." he whispered.

He put a hand on her shoulder as he passed, but Lilac barely heard him. The words filled up every corner of her head.

 _"That's_ _ **murder!"**_

That was the one thing Lilac had tried so hard not to be. She'd run from that last, terrible label for the past three years.

 _I don't want to be a killer._

Who had she said that to again? A little hand grabbed her right shoulder. It wasn't so little anymore. Lilac twisted around...

...and met Carol's scared and disbelieving eyes.

"Lilac?" Carol asked fearfully.

Lilac pulled out of her hand. She backed up, unspeaking. Her mind went blank with shock.

Then she _shrieked_.

"MILLA!" she cried. "MILLAAAAA!"

Before Carol could say anything, before anyone could respond, Lilac had taken off across the icy wastes.

Then everything unravelled. Carol stood there frozen for a few seconds. She watched Lilac disappear into the north. Then she panicked.

"Oooh _LILAAAC!"_

Before Torque could respond she leapt off the ramp, sprinting after her through the snow. Torque watched her run off. He froze in mid-operation. Gong returned to see him stand up in a panic.

"We need to go after them!"

"Finish your operation!" Gong cried.

His voice rose in alarm as he realised what was going on, but Torque didn't really hear him. He slipped past Gong and ran for the cockpit. Gong was left with a man with a slit throat. The plastic tube... and Wei's undeserving life, was in his hands. He growled and grabbed him off the ground. As quickly as he could he hauled him down off the exit ramp. The way Torque was behaving he'd probably take off with them still on it. Sure enough, as Gong forced the tube through the cut in Wei's windpipe the ship took off behind him. The exit ramp flailed wildly. It barely missed Gong's head.

He was heading off in the wrong direction. The angle was slight, but he'd still fly miles off-course. He'd have barely any ground visibility like that. Gong cursed in his head. Looking for Carol and Lilac from the spacecraft would be like trying to spot two needles in a thousand haystacks. Gong was left grasping his treacherous subordinate. He'd failed. The situation had slid completely out of his hands. At least the idiot could breathe again. Good. Lilac had committed assault, _not_ murder. Plus, Gong had someone to take his anger out on.

"You are going to jail for a very, very long time." he menaced.

Wei didn't argue. He trembled in the snow. Growling, Gong pulled him away and back to the jeep. He drove off.

He didn't go north. Gong knew he wasn't going to catch up with Lilac or Carol in his jeep. At the speed they ran at it probably wasn't possible to catch them today. He would have to wait until they went to ground. Gong made a circular in the snow to mark where the ship had landed. Then he hit the gas back to camp. He was going to have to organise fuel and order a general search. It could take days to find the girls now. If his jeep ran out of fuel, he'd just need rescuing too. Unless their legendary run of bad fortune turned and Torque stumbled upon one of the girls in the snow...

Milla, Lilac and Carol might not have that long. And Gong had two other soldiers out there too, in a jeep with limited fuel reserves. Gong wondered despairingly if he'd already lost them all.

 _Please, not now,_ He thought. _Not after everything they've been through. We were so close…_

* * *

Carol ran for hours.

She ran across snow and ice. She slid down embankments, climbed cliffs and stumbled through foreboding woodland. Through valleys and across hills she hurtled into Avalice's northern reaches. The icy wind intensified every minute. She followed anywhere Lilac's tracks fell. She was rapidly running out of strength, but she didn't care. She averaged sixty miles an hour as she broke through the extremes of Avalice's northern climate. She'd come further north than any Avalician had dared come before.

Then she had nothing.

The tracks stopped. Carol ground to a halt.

 _"What?"_

That same question echoed in her head again and again.

 _"What? What?"_

 _"What?"_

She saw nothing but virgin snow. She heard nothing but the howling wind. She saw no hint of Lilac or Milla. They could have been ghosts the entire time. Carol was left dumbstruck. The cold ripped through her unprotected flesh. Something went out. Exhaustion finally claimed her. She toppled over in the snow…

She lay on her back, staring up at the sky. It was suddenly ablaze with fiery white light. A beautiful, shining vortex swirled in the early morning sky. The Kingdom Stone was safe. The world was fine. All of Lilac's guilt, her pain and suffering, her final, terrifying breakdown in the forest as her world had collapsed around her ears…

 _It was all for nothing,_ Carol realised bitterly. _Just a sick prank._

What did the world mean to them as they froze to death in the snow? Did they mean anything to it? Who cared about three wild children? No one, as long as they had their TVs, cars and comfy lives. No one would give a toss. Lilac, Milla… _her,_ they had all played their roles perfectly. Now they could be thrown away. They were disposable like used tissues. Furious, bitter anger ignited in Carol's mind. She pulled herself to her knees… and then up to a crouch. She forced herself back to her feet. She had no one to help her this time. Why not? They never had before. She began to force her way through the snow.

 _I have to get back…_ she thought. _I have to get help!_

This was the way back, right? Disoriented, Carol marched on. She listened for her footsteps.

 **One.**

 ***crunch***

 **Two.**

 ***crunch***

 **Three**

 ***crunch***

 **Four**

 ***crunch***

Carol counted thirty crunches.

 **Thirty-one**

 ***crunch***

 **Thirty-two**

 **Thirty-three…**

 _Wait… is this the right…_

 ***Thump.***

Carol collapsed face down in the snow. She lay there, unmoving. The cold burned her body and sucked the life from her limbs. She realised dully what had happened.

 _I'm sorry Lilac. I couldn't… keep up… after all._

It was just like going to sleep. She began to feel drowsy as her body temperature plunged to dangerous levels. Carol tried to fight it, but she couldn't move. Above her head, that beautiful spiral of white, hopeful light mocked her. It returned hope to Avalice even as it ripped hers away. Had Milla held out for just a few more hours… had any of them bothered to look up, things might have been different.

They weren't, and it was too late now. Carol shut the beautiful display of lights out of her mind. She closed her eyes as her body began its final shut down.

 _It's not for me._ she realised. _It's not for us. Nothing ever was._

 _I hate you all._

Snow began to cover Carol as she drifted off into one final rest.

* * *

 _Loading next scene.  
Tip: In battle, victory goes to the last side to give up._

* * *

Author's Note.

Hey everyone, Bystander here. We now have a forum specifically for Freedom Planet here on ! If you want to discuss a story, discuss the game, ask for feedback, chuck story ideas around, or just chat with other readers, be sure to check it out! You can find a link in my profile.


	13. Thaw

Thaw

Torque touched down upon the snow ten minutes later.

Panic coursed through him as he ran down the gangway. He braved the freezing winds, desperate for any sign of Carol, Milla or Lilac. He'd been blind in the air, and had touched down in countless random places. He feared he'd never find them now. He didn't even know where he was anymore. The same horrid emptiness awaited him here. He shivered as the arctic wind burned his skin and stared out into Death's own country. It was one of the most desolate places he'd ever seen. He saw no landmarks or features here, only endless, featureless snow. A terrible, creeping dread filled him.

He suddenly struck out in a random direction. Maybe he'd stumble upon some clue on foot. He knew it was madness. He would freeze to death long before he stumbled upon any trace of the girls. He could be setting out in completely the wrong direction. Torque didn't care anymore. He'd find them or die trying.

The universe finally threw him a bone. He saw three sets of tracks leading north. Fear and hope clashed violently within him as he broke into a sprint. The cold frosted up his goggles, and he felt like his nose was turning to ice. He fought through it. Desperation carried him through temperatures of minus forty degrees Celsius.

He stopped in his tracks.

Lilac and Milla's footprints vanished before his eyes. Only a lonely pair of sneakers continued northward. Torque stared at the ground, utterly perplexed. The cold assaulted his mind as he struggled to think.

 _Am I hallucinating?_ He considered numbly.

No. Those prints were real. Carol's tracks stretched off into the north. They were closer together now. She'd slowed down. There was an indent in the snow. Horror filled Torque as he realised what had happened.

"No…" he gasped. "No… please…"

Torque ran through the snow after Carol, dreading what he'd find.

" _ **CAROOOOL!"**_

She was half-buried under a snow drift. She lay terribly still. Torque froze. He felt like the world had dropped from under him. He staggered over to where she lay and fell to his knees by her side. A pathetic cry escaped his lips.

"Please…" he begged desperately. "Not you too. Not after all this…"

She didn't answer. Carol was already half-mummified. Frost clung to her fur like a funeral shroud. Torque drew her into one last, desperate embrace. He stared despairingly at the snow. The blizzard intensified around him.

"I'm _sorry,_ " he whispered. "I should have just gone home. Lilac was right. I should never have drawn you into this…"

Carol couldn't hear him. The cold closed in. He shivered violently. Torque was about to become another victim of the cold arctic winds. His grief overwhelmed him.

Then he realised she was still breathing.

Every muscle in his body locked up. It was so weak he could barely detect it, but she was _still breathing._ He gasped in shock. Torque clung onto what was almost a corpse, almost a corpse but _not yet._ With a cry, he stood up and hoisted Carol into the air. He sprinted back towards the warmth and safety of the ship. He'd left it a long way behind. Carol's disoriented footsteps had carried her even further away from safety. Torque's face stung with cold. He couldn't feel his legs. He could barely feel Carol's almost lifeless body pressed against him, but he ran on. Sheer desperation energized his muscles.

When he couldn't run anymore from the cold he stumbled forward instead. Torque forced his frozen legs on. The cold air burnt his throat. His tears froze painfully upon his face. He could barely see ten feet in front of him. There was a horrible, dead feeling in his chest as the warmth was drained from his body. He still couldn't see the ship. Torque's body rapidly began to give out. He slumped to his knees.

" _ **Darn it!"**_ he cried. _**"Move!"**_

He could see the glimmer of something red through the snow.

 _Move._ he begged himself. _You have to move. Not for you, for her. You dragged her into this!_

It seemed so far away. Torque forced himself back to his feet. He staggered forward through the snow. The dead weight in his chest seemed to drag him towards the ground. He struggled to keep holding Carol. Slowly, the exit ramp came into view. He could barely see it through his ice-encrusted goggles. Torque's feet hit metal…

…he stumbled upon the surface. Torque struggled to bend his feet into the right shape. He slowly crept up the gangway.

 _Just a few more feet…_

…and he was there. Torque staggered over the threshold. His vision swam and blurred. He couldn't think. They still weren't safe. Wasn't there something he had to do?

 _The exit ramp!_

Torque tried to reach sideways for the button. Instead, he toppled over sideways. His hand clipped the switch. The mechanism activated. Torque landed in a heap with Carol in his arms. She was so deadly cold that she drew what little heat remained from his body. Torque realised numbly that he was prepared for that. He could go.

She couldn't.

 _Please… please don't be dead._

The added burden pushed his body over the edge. Torque faded into darkness as an ice crystal broke off Carol's cheek. The air around them slowly began to warm…

* * *

 _Four hours later._

A jeep pulled up outside the ship. A young woman emerged, a black-haired panda dressed in the purple robes of the Shuigang priesthood. She wore an almost permanent scowl on her face. Neera Li was only in her mid-twenties, yet she carried a chillier disposition than most veteran mercenaries. She could drain the warmth from people just by standing near them. She wasn't bothered by the freezing temperatures. She carried them with her every day. The blue-tipped spear she held in her hand continuously sucked the heat out of the atmosphere. Still, sanity demanded that she wear a parka over her normal clothing.

Five soldiers dismounted behind her. They kept their distance. The temperatures out here were bitter enough without her cursed weapon to make matters worse. She wasn't a particularly welcome companion even without the cold air. Neera was used to that reception. She examined the alien spacecraft grimly.

It was half buried in snow. Neera maintained her stoic demeanour, but inside she was unnerved. Torque's ship felt like it had been here for centuries. It was eerily quiet.

 _"Are any of them still alive?"_ she thought.

She couldn't dwell on that. She expertly hid her unease as she approached the ghostly ship. She took her spear and struck the ramp three times. Slow and heavy raps rang through the air.

"This is Neera Li!" she began. "We request permission to board your ship! We've been searching for you!"

She didn't know what she was expecting. The ship seemed abandoned. The exit ramp was damaged. It hung ominously ajar.

 _"Would it even start in this condition?"_ she thought to herself.

No reply came. Neera's unease began to shift to dread. She didn't like this. The wind wrapped sinisterly around the ship. It taunted her with its moans. She heard the soldiers shift behind her uncomfortably.

 _If Torque left the ship in this state… and he hasn't come back._

Neera felt an emotion she hadn't experienced for a long time. Cold fear crawled into her gut.

"Ma'am?"

She didn't respond to the corporal immediately. She continued to stare up at the ship.

"Ma'am." the corporal repeated.

He grew more insistent. Reluctantly, Neera turned around.

"Get it open." she ordered quietly.

She could see the corporal's obvious discomfort. Neera was a civilian. She wasn't technically in charge here.

"Miss Li, with all due respect, this ship seems deserted," the corporal pointed out quietly. "We aren't equipped to open something like this. We've got some tow cables in the back, but that door looks pretty sturdy. If we try to pull it down, it could take the back off our vehicle instead. We'd be stranded."

Neera had to concede he had a point. She wanted to get inside. She had a horrible feeling about this ship. However, she realised she'd need a far more compelling reason than her gut. She turned back to the ship.

 _Is that a gap?_

The way the door hung let gave her a slight window of vision. She peered inside the transport's confines.

She froze.

"Get that ramp open now!" she yelled.

"What? Miss Li-"

"There's _someone in there!_ "she cried harshly. "They're unconscious!"

The corporal went pale underneath his helmet. He gave the order. Half a dozen bodies scrambled for the tow cables. They attached the heavy wires to the sides of the ramp as quickly as possible. Neera stepped well out the way. The corporal stepped on the gas pedal. There was the horrific sound of screeching, breaking metal.

Neera braced as the world exploded into deafening noise around her. The already weakened ramp exploded off its hinges. The top half fell into the ship. It created the perfect ramp. She could hardly believe her luck. Her desperate, dangerous order had worked perfectly. They had their entrance. She charged up the fallen runway as quick as her feet could carry her.

She froze.

Horrified.

Torque lay sprawled across the floor. His breaths were shallow, and his green skin was sickly pale. That wasn't what stopped Neera dead in her tracks. It wasn't what almost made her scream.

He clutched a child in his arms. Her clothes and fur were covered in icy water. Carol's eyes were half-lidded. Torque clung to her like she was some kind of macabre teddy bear. Neera's spear clattered to the ground.

 _She's dead,_ she realised. _He carried back a corpse._

Neera failed to move for a good five seconds. The shock paralysed every muscle in her body. Then she hung her head and closed her eyes.

"Miss?"

The corporal approached her cautiously.

"I owed them so much better than this." she whispered.

The corporal looked on. He went quite still. He stared, transfixed by the horrid scene. One soldier pushed past them. He kneeled beside Carol's corpse. He took her pulse. Neera started.

"You… you don't think-"

She went rigid as a board.

"She's alive."

Neera almost had a heart attack. The soldier's voice remained professional, but he was quiet. The corporal strode forward to examine Carol.

"She's almost gone," he said, audibly upset. "There's no way we can bring her back from this." He sighed heavily, close to tears. "I can't see the others faring better. What was the general _doing?_ I have a daughter her age."

"We have to do something!" the soldier cried. "We can't just leave her to-"

"Soldier… I've seen frostbite. I'm telling you now, she isn't coming back from this."

The soldier stared at his commanding officer. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. The corporal stared down at Carol and shook his head.

"I'm sorry. Get her up on that table. We can at least make her comfortable." He shouted back to the others. "Heat some water and some blankets!" he cried. "At least we won't lose-"

"I can fix this."

Neera finally stirred into action. She spoke quietly, but everyone heard. They stared at her. Their eyes shone with hope as she fumbled for something in her robes. She drew out a small syringe full of shining, light blue fluid.

"What is that?" the corporal asked quietly. He examined the strange liquid with disquiet.

"It's an anti-freezing agent," Neera explained quietly. "We use it to defrost prisoners once we capture them."

The corporal stared. He looked from Neera to the soldier. He stared down at Carol, and then looked back at Neera again.

"Then what are we waiting for?" he growled. "Get her up on that table! And hurry up with that blanket!"

Both soldiers pulled Carol up by her arms and legs. They hauled her over to the table.

"Put her on the right!" the corporal ordered.

"Corporal there's _blood_ here!" the soldier gasped.

"Darn it," the corporal cursed. "What on Avalice… these are children! Left then. Hurry up!"

Neera approached quietly as they slid Carol onto the bench. The whole room stunk of petal essence. It felt like a hospital ward. She noted the empty drip. She tried to put it out of her mind as she pulled out Carol's arm.

 _This could kill her,_ she realised as she readied the syringe. _It's not supposed to treat hypothermia._

She plunged the needle into Carol's arm without a moment more's hesitation. The blue fluid disappeared into Carol's body. Neera watched it go, transfixed. Would this really work?

 _It has to._

Neera heard shuffling behind her. The soldiers were lifting Torque off the hot metal.

"Wait!" she cried.

They hesitated behind her. She didn't look away.

"Leave him on the ground. It's warmer on the floor than it is up here." she explained grimly.

They lowered Torque back to the floor. A blanket would have to suffice. Neera concentrated furiously on the syringe. She drew it out before it was fully delivered.

"There's still some left." the corporal pointed out quietly.

Neera sighed.

"We normally use this medicine to reverse a deep freeze," she explained gently. "If it's just hypothermia, I don't want to use too much."

"Could we give it to the alien?" the corporal asked.

Neera shook her head.

 _Our medicine could kill him._

They both studied Carol anxiously. A little colour began to return to her ears. Her chest began to rise and fall. Her blood was starting to warm up. Neera could barely hold herself together. She knew Carol was coming back from a critical condition. This kind of recovery normally had to be done slowly. The shock of being revived could send Carol into cardiac arrest. She was dead if that happened. They had no means of restarting her heart.

 _Have I killed her?_ Neera wondered.

A few remaining bits of ice broke off and fell from Carol's fur. Her breathing accelerated, and she began to shiver. In the deepest stages of hypothermia, the body's corrective mechanisms stopped functioning. It was a good sign. She was coming back from the edge.

Then she opened her eyes.

Neera and the corporal gasped in relief. They leaned gently over her. She shook violently. Her eyes moved around the room erratically as she examined her surroundings.

"Welcome back Miss." the corporal said gently.

A tear dropped from the veteran soldier's helm. The panda pulled it off. Neera was more collected, but the iron was gone. She felt sick with worry. Carol searched both their faces. Her eyes darted from detail to detail. They picked up every line and every facet of their expressions. She saw how much they cared and how glad they were she was back… but they were still strangers. She whimpered with fear.

"Can you get her a blanket?" Neera asked gently.

The corporal's gaze lingered on Carol for a moment, but he obeyed. He moved slowly away from the table and out into the cold. Neera was left face to face with Carol.

"Lilac," she moaned. "Milla."

Neera froze. Her face fell.

"We're still-"

" _ **AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"**_

Carol bawled in anger. Neera locked up. She watched helplessly as Carol burst into hiccupped and sobbed loudly. She cried for a long time. Neera did her best to comfort her.

"You're ok… you're safe now…"

"Why am I back?" Carol cried. "How did I get here?"

She suddenly went quiet.

"Where's Torque?"

Neera realised that she didn't have an answer ready for that question.

"He's…"

She hesitated. Carol picked up on it immediately. Her face contorted in horror.

"No…" she squeaked. " _Please! Anything but-_ "

"He's not dead."

Carol went still. She held her breath. Tears coursed out of her eyes. Neera stared at her wide-eyed, as if glaring at the child in front of her would somehow drive the message home. Suddenly, Carol breathed again. She slowly quietened down.

"Is he going to be ok?" She whispered.

Neera nodded. Carol visibly calmed.

"I need to see him." she insisted.

Neera stared at Carol uncertainly.

 _She's in no condition to move. She's still disoriented._

She never got the choice. To her astonishment, Carol forced herself up. Neera almost pushed her back down, but she allowed it at the last moment. She watched in wonder as Carol pushed herself upright and swung her legs out over the table. For someone who had been near to death moments ago, she'd recovered unbelievably fast. Carol blinked rapidly from the effort, but her confusion quickly cleared. She watched Neera with worried eyes.

"What are you made of?" Neera asked in wonder.

"She's a wildcat Miss," the corporal said. "They're notoriously tough. They say one fell out of an airship three thousand feet in the air. He woke up three days later during the funeral."

He draped a brown blanket round Carol's shoulders. Carol grimaced at the attention. By this time a number of soldiers were watching the scene. Before Neera or anyone else could act, Carol stood up. She glanced around the ship…

…and saw Torque.

Neera watched Carol freeze. Her young eyes went wide, and so very very hard. She held the blanket round her like a cloak as she walked over to his side. She stared down at Torque's pale face. It was impossible to know what she was thinking.

Neera waited tensely for her to respond.

* * *

For a long time Carol didn't. She stared down at Torque. He'd saved her life, and almost frozen to death for it. Carol didn't know what to think. She was struck dumb.

 _I wanted to abandon you. I wanted to leave you to Brevon. Why did you save my life? How could you.._

Black anger ignited within her mind.

 _You're just like Lilac,_ she thought bitterly. _You just wanted to do the right thing. I didn't._ _ **I**_ _was selfish. Now she's gone, and you're here. And I'm back on this ship, with that panda_ _ **witch,**_ _and an army that can't do its job and gets paid for it anyway. While that_ _ **monster**_ _gets away!_

She trembled with anger. Neera must have mistaken it for fear, because she began to approach. Carol twisted round on the spot.

" **YOU."**

Neera had intimidated Carol. The panda woman was twice her age, held a position of authority and had physically assaulted Lilac. Lilac had just barely driven her off before she could freeze her solid and drag her back to prison. She'd been far more than a physical danger. When Lilac and Carol had last confronted her earlier, she'd turned the entire kingdom against them and had them thrown in jail. She'd then chased them relentlessly through the swamps. She would have caught them if one of her subordinates hadn't screwed up. Neera had had her reasons, but for Carol she was like the bully from hell.

Carol wasn't afraid of bullies anymore. She'd met Brevon. When she saw that confident stride falter and that icy face waver she smelt blood. She let Neera have it.

"Are you happy?" Carol snarled. "Do you _like_ what's happened to us? We're just 'criminals and spies, your excellency,' right?"

She sneered. Neera went very still. She stared back grimly at Carol.

"I was doing my job." she said quietly.

"Your job?" Carol menaced. "You didn't _have_ to dig up dirt on us. You didn't _have_ to decide that a group of kids were _trying to kill the Magister_. And you _didn't_ _ **have to attack my BEST FRIEND WITH A SPEAR!"**_

The temperature in the room plummeted to bone-chilling depths. Neera shifted uncomfortably. They were both aware of the half a dozen soldiers, all of whom gave Neera extremely dark looks now. Carol had an unfair advantage over someone for perhaps the first time in her life. The corporal now glared daggers at Neera. No one would sympathise with someone who had assaulted a teenager. Nervously, Neera tried to defend herself.

"I had to recapture you," she said quietly. "We thought you were foreign agents."

"Why?" Carol demanded.

"Because you _lied_ to us." Neera said angrily.

Carol glared daggers at her.

"We didn't lie to you," she snarled. "Lilac broke us out of prison because we needed more evidence. We wanted to help, but you didn't believe us! Want to know why?"

Neera waited anxiously. She began to sense that Carol might have a point.

"Because we're _criminals!_ " Carol cried. "There! I said it! Wanna know why _that_ is?"

Her confidence and anger caught Neera off-guard. She shut up and listened. Carol sensed her moment. She pounced.

"It was the only way we could survive," Carol growled. "We were _living in the forest by ourselves_. We didn't know how to live like that. We almost froze to death on the first night!"

"You could have come in." Neera said.

She was quiet, and the arrogance was gone. She no longer really believed what she was saying.

"Come in?" Carol cried. "That's a great idea! Hey scary guy in the mask, can we hand in our membership cards of a criminal organization, when we _already have a record,_ and just go back to living normal lives?" She glowered darkly at Neera. "I'm sure that would have ended up just great! Now we can get hunted by the police for stuff I did when I was six! _And Lilac was four!"_

She trailed off into deadly silence. The penny finally dropped. Neera looked like she'd met Brevon for the first time. She stared at Carol, for the first time actually seeing her point of view. A little of Carol's anger cleared. She was finally getting through.

"Lilac spent three years trying to get us out of that mess. And I _hated_ her for it," Carol said bitterly. Not all of her anger was directed at Neera anymore. "I didn't understand what she was _trying_ to do! She didn't _want_ to steal from people. She was obsessed with doing _the right thing! L_ ook where it got her…"

Carol paused. Tears glimmered in her eyes. Neera listened quietly.

"She got a one-way ticket to the North Pole while her life fell apart at the seams. She believed in you and your Magister,and everything she believed in and cared about was slowly taken away. And I _watched that happen."_

Carol looked away. For a long time she wrestled with her emotions, anger and guilt swirling within her.

"You treated us like _dirt._ " she finally snapped.

A deadly silence fell. Carol glowered at Neera as if she could give her an answer for her life. She didn't even know if she was angry anymore, or if she was really angry at Neera. At any rate, Neera's heart had gone out of the fight. She regarded Carol almost with pity.

"I am sorry," she said. Her voice was low and heavy with regret. "I still believe that had you explained your position, you would have been treated sympathetically. But I understand why you made the decisions you did."

Carol sighed. Silence filled the room. Everyone stared.

"Look… getting out of crime was Lilac's thing," Carol said quietly. "I didn't really care or understand. I didn't want to get involved in any of this either." She looked at the floor. "But Lilac really wanted to help. And you made that… a lot more difficult for her." She looked up at Neera.

"If you're going to apologise to someone, apologise to her. If it's not too late…"

She trailed off. The air felt heavy enough to swim in.

Eventually, the corporal broke the horrid silence.

"Ma'am, we need to continue the search."

Neera snapped round. She seemed to have forgotten he was there. As she processed the question, she looked back at the despondent Carol… and then down at Torque. She hesitated.

"Maybe I should stay," she said quietly. "Someone needs to look after things here."

The corporal shook his head. He wasn't happy with that.

"Miss, there are dangerous creatures out in the wastes," he explained. "If we meet any, we could use your expertise. I can leave one of my men here to look after Carol, but I'd appreciate your assistance."

Neera closed her eyes. She sighed heavily.

"You're searching for them?"

Carol's voice was tiny. She had the faintest bit of hope, but it was tiny. Neera straightened up. A little of her strength seemed to return.

"We didn't come here for our health Carol," Neera explained quietly. "The general has ordered every man and jeep he has to join the search," she explained. "I was sent out to directly follow your footprints. We were hoping they would lead to all three of you,"

She hesitated.

"We might still be able to follow your friends."

Carol stared. She hung her head…

…and sobbed.

"You're _not going to find them!_ " she cried.

Neera stared at her.

"Why?" she asked, audibly upset.

"Because I _tried!_ " Carol cried. "I tried to follow them, but their tracks just disappeared! They vanished… like they were never there to begin with. I-"

She hesitated.

"I thought I was going insane." she confessed.

Neera and the corporal exchanged nervous glances.

"Maybe they just got covered by the snow?" Neera considered.

Carol shook her head violently.

"That's not possible either," she whined. "One moment the tracks were as clear as day. Then they were gone! I know what I saw! You're telling me snow filled one set of tracks, but not the other?"

Everyone fell quiet. The mystery seemed to fill the room. A horrible atmosphere pervaded the vessel.

Suddenly, Neera strode over to the exit ramp. She stared out into the snows.

"Then we need to get moving now," She said with decision. "If there's any chance they're out there, now's the time to search. Even if we can't find them, we might find some clues. But only if we leave immediately."

Carol stared. Her heart filled with doubt.

"But there aren't any tracks," she pointed out quietly. She gasped.

"Oh _no…"_

Everyone shot around at once as Carol lifted her hands to her face. She began to shake.

"What?" Neera asked urgently. "What is it?"

"What if it's…"

Carol trembled violently. Neera turned back towards her.

"Carol?"

"We couldn't stop Brevon from escaping!" Carol cried. Her voice filled with panic. "What if he came back? What if he grabbed them while they were out on the ice?!"

Neera went still. She understood fine well why that prospect terrified Carol. She'd seen Brevon's handiwork. She'd picked up the result beside the river. Lilac had barely been alive. She furiously tried to think of other explanations.

"Carol, how would he know where you were?" she asked, a little too quickly.

Carol picked up on her unsteady haste.

"He always knew where we were," she whispered. "He was waiting for us when we escaped from prison _. We barely got away._ "

Neera stared at her in pity.

"If I'd just stopped you…" she realised.

Carol shook her head.

"If you'd stopped us, Torque would be dead," Carol explained, grief-stricken. "So thank you for screwing up at least."

Neera almost visibly slumped. Carol stared at the floor. Neither of them could offer anything. If Brevon had Lilac and Milla, they would already be in space… or dead. There would be no pursuit this late in the game. It was already over.

"Miss, if I could make a suggestion."

A note of light cut through the darkness. Both Neera and Carol turned to a young soldier. Their hope reignited, especially within Neera. He was the one who had noticed Carol was alive.

"If this "Brevon" took Miss Tea's friends, then how did he cover his tracks? His ship is destroyed, right? And the tracks suddenly end?"

"He could have had a machine." Carol pointed out.

"In his escape pod?" The soldier countered. "I don't know anything about these things, but it must be an incredible ship."

Carol stared. Surely Brevon would have thought of that. He'd seemed unstoppable. So why couldn't she think of any way he could have intervened.

"So it wasn't Brevon then?" She asked. She was terrified of the answer.

"It wouldn't make much sense," Neera said. "I think we can rule him out."

Carol knew that she was saying that mainly to reassure her, but she was content to accept it. Relief swept over her as her worst nightmare wasn't realised. She suddenly felt incredibly tired.

The corporal sighed.

"Alright look, we'd better get moving. Anson, stay here with Miss Tea and the commander," he ordered. "Everyone else, you're with me."

He stole one last dark look at Neera. The soldiers marched down towards the ramp. Neera turned back to Carol.

"It looks like we're moving. Stay here with your friend. When he wakes up, you can take the ship back to-"

"No."

Carol had spoken quietly, but the entire gathering turned back to face her. Neera stared at her in astonishment. Her intentions were plain.

"I'm _not_ going to sit here and wait while Lilac and Milla freeze to death," she said. "You said it was dangerous, right? Well I can help with dangerous."

"Absolutely not." Neera said quietly.

Carol's face hardened with frustration. Neera didn't move an inch. A confrontation began to build once more.

"It's too dangerous." Neera started.

"I'm probably stronger than you!" Carol pointed out.

"You're too young."

"Old enough to storm an alien ship," Carol snarled. "Lilac was right, that doesn't mean anything. That's just something you adults say to make you feel better!"

Neera's voice rose.

"Carol Tea, I am **not** going to let you join this expedition!"

Carol stormed right up to her. Despite her young age, they were practically the same height. Carol had long been able to intimidate kids her own age. Now she found she could scare adults too.

"And are you going to stop me?" She menaced.

Neera fell silent.

"And what am I going to tell Torque?" she whispered.

She spoke far more humbly this time. What was she supposed to do, fight Carol? Even if she won, how was that responsible behaviour?

"I really don't think that's your problem." Carol snarled.

"What are you going to tell him then?" Neera challenged. She straightened up.

Carol turned around. She stared at Torque's unconscious form one last time. After a pause, she turned back to Neera.

"I'll tell him that I stood by my friends," she said quietly. "like I'm supposed to. Lilac would have done the same for me."

Both warriors stared at one another in a contest of wills. Neera closed her eyes and bowed her head.

"Miss, you can't be serious!" the corporal cried. "She can't be older than fourteen!"

"Twelve, actually." Carol corrected him quietly.

"I am not-"

The panda quickly shut up when she ducked around Neera and marched up to him. She released her cloak a bit and brandished a claw.

"Listen Mister," she said quietly. "You see these claws?" She ran one down his armour. "I could open that suit of armour like a can of beans. I took down a giant robot, and the only reason I didn't keep fighting was because the cockpit exploded in my face."

She pointed to where the metal had cracked her skull.

"Can you match that?" She asked, staring at him. "Would you even try?"

The corporal stared.

"Are we really doing this?" He asked Neera, visibly disquieted.

Neera hesitated for a moment. Then she threw her hands wide in exasperation. She would have looked comical if the matter at hand hadn't been so serious.

"It looks like we don't have much of a choice!"

Carol couldn't help but smile at her frustration. Neera snatched up her spear. She pointed towards the truck.

"Right, fine! Let's go then!"

She glared at Carol in one final attempt to get her to back down.

"You do realise that if anything happens to you I will _never_ forgive myself?"

Carol didn't give an inch.

"I'm willing to live with that." she remarked coldly.

She sounded completely different to the girl who had run off after Lilac in the valley. Neera couldn't help but acknowledge that Carol seemed to have thought her decision through. She gave a sigh of frustration and marched off towards the jeep. Carol watched her throw her hands up in the air with a growl as the corporal whispered something to her. Something about the general killing them.

Carol looked back one last time at Torque. It almost stopped her.

 _I'm so sorry,_ she thought. _I don't want you to wake up on your own. I already did that to Lilac... but I have to help._

What was she supposed to do? Waiting hadn't solved anything last time. It wouldn't again.

 _Please understand._ she thought. _And be ok._

With that, she reluctantly turned away. Carol walked towards the waiting jeep. She couldn't help but be impressed. In addition to having six seats, it appeared to have a turret mounted on the back. There was even an extra seat for the gunner.

 _The general sent this?_ Carol thought, awestruck.

She clambered into the back. Half a dozen disapproving looks coated her, but she shrugged them off.

"Look guys, I'm coming whether you like it or not."

Her voice was grim. No one voiced any objections, even though they were probably on the edge of a coup. The corporal hit the ignition. Carol glanced out at the ship.

 _Last chance._ She thought to herself.

The moment came and went. They shot off across the ice. Torque disappeared into the background. Carol left him only a stranger and a blanket for company.

 _Please don't come after us._ Carol thought.

Then doubt really settled in. What if she'd made things worse? What if he hurt himself searching for her? The soldier would tell him why she'd gone… but would he listen? As she vanished over the horizon in a vehicle full of soldiers, Carol almost asked them to turn back.

Soon he really was gone. Even that option passed. For better or worse, Carol had made her decision.

* * *

 **Authors Note.**

 _Ladies and gentlemen, I may have to cut this down to once every two weeks. I do not want to do this, as this is already looking to be an extremely long project, and two chapters a month will severely limit my progress. I also do not want to lose my current schedule and make people wait for updates. I will still endeavour to get out a chapter per week, however, I do not want to start rushing chapters out. I was determined to get this one out so I could warn people in advance, but I already felt a considerable amount of pressure doing so. You're guaranteed a chapter every second Wednesday. I will still try to get one out every Wednesday. I will not release a chapter outside those days, so you do not have to keep checking back._

 _Apologies._

 _Slightly Dazed Bystander._


	14. A Moment of Clarity

A Moment of Clarity

Sensation slowly returned to Milla. She woke with a sneeze. Every muscle in her body felt like a lead weight. A wave of nausea crashed over her as she opened her eyes. She breathed slowly in and out.

 _I'm… alive?_

She lay on her front. Her wet clothes clung to her uncomfortably, yet somehow she wasn't cold. A warm, woollen blanket had been draped over her while she slept. She could hear a fire crackling away to her left hand side. Soothing heat rolled off of it. Milla recovered quietly. Strength slowly returned to her bones as the heat pushed away at the cold. She closed her eyes.

 _I fell over in the snow._

"That was some good hunting Fai."

Milla froze. Her eyes shot open. She'd heard a man's voice. His voice was deep, and he spoke with a Shang Tu accent. Terror coursed through her. The soldiers had followed her into the woods!

 _What do they want from me?_ _I went away just like they asked. Please, just leave me alone! Let me go…_

A second man replied. His voice had a slightly higher register. It was gentler. Milla felt a little less afraid of him.

"It's just a couple of squirrels Shun," Fai said humbly. "Not much to write home about."

Milla breathed again. They weren't talking about her. That was something.

 _Why am I here?_ She asked herself. _They chased me away._

A tiny glimmer of hope reignited in Milla's heart. Maybe they'd changed their minds?

"I'm still impressed you managed to make that cage in the first place." Shun observed.

"I used to catch them a lot before I joined the army," Fai explained. "My parents owned an orchard. They were a perennial menace."

Milla's fear slowly calmed to mere nerves.

 _They don't sound like bad people._

She rolled onto her back. Tall trees extended far into the sky above. The twisted, gnarled canopy covered the sky. A sense of calming familiarity drifted over her. Even in the snow, this place was almost welcoming. Milla felt like she was home for the first time in two days. She could smell cooking meat. She rarely enjoyed such things. Her stomach rumbled. For her keen nose, the smell was torture.

" _Maybe I could ask them for a slice?"_

She pushed her blanket off her and sat up. Milla took a first nervous look around. A tranquil, grey twilight settled over the frozen forest floor. She recognised the onset of evening, a calming call for the forest to sleep. A blazing fire burned to her side. The beautiful orange flames were comfortable. This place was so peaceful that she began to question the horrors of the past three days.

Then Milla remembered the real reason she'd run away. Tears formed in her eyes.

 _I can't go back. I can't let them see me. This was a mistake. Maybe I can still…_

Then she saw the soldiers. Two men in azure blue armour sat by an open fire. They stared at her from just a few metres away. It was too late to just sneak away. They weren't wearing their helmets. The pandas regarded Milla calmly. Surprise was evident on their features, but they didn't seem angry or menacing. One of them was still holding his squirrel meat over the fire. It was slowly burning. Milla slowly got to her feet. She stared warily at them. One of the soldiers got up in turn. Fai, she guessed. He looked relieved.

"We're glad you're awake." he said gently.

Milla didn't say anything.

 _Run away!_ she thought. _You have to leave! Now! Leave these men alone!_

Hadn't it been a long time since she'd turned? That food smelt so good. Milla trembled on the verge between flight and surrender.

"Do you want something to eat?"

Shun's question caught Milla before she was ready. He studied her carefully. She met his eyes for a second.

Then she began to back away. A bolt of fear shot through her as her nerve broke. Fai anxiously stepped forward.

"Hey!"

"EYAH!"

Milla broke and fled. She nearly lost her balance as she threw herself down on all fours. She sprinted off into the trees.

"WAIT!"

"MILLA! COME BACK!"

The soldiers' cries rang through Milla's ears, but they only spurred her on. She broke through branches and leapt over fallen stumps, desperate to leave them behind. Her face and limbs stung from whipping branches, but her terror blocked the pain out. She could hear them crying out behind. The men screamed out to her desperately.

"MILLA! MILLAAAA!"

Milla had heard someone cry out to her like that before. With a sob, she threw everything she had into running away.

"MILLA!"

"COME BACK!"

She didn't slow down. She kept running until she'd left them both far behind. Instincts honed since early childhood guided her through the dark and twisting passageways of the forest floor. She didn't stop until she'd broken out into a clearing. When she left the treeline… when she was sure she was lost once more, Milla slowed to a stop. She paced a few more steps forward. Then she collapsed to the ground. She burst into tears immediately.

 _Why are you doing this? You don't deserve this! You have to go back to them._

Five seconds on her own and already she had second thoughts. Milla picked herself up off the ground. She looked around. She'd completely lost her bearings.

 _Does it really matter?_

She stopped dead. A cold, wintery breeze blew through the air. Dead branches creaked in the wind. The soil was warmer here. Hardy arctic grass poked up through the snow. Just as it had all those years ago, the forest began to call to Milla.

 _This is your home now. You don't belong anywhere else._

Sobs racked her lungs. Milla whimpered as she began to stumble forwards.

 _I'm sorry Lila-"_

A hideous, deep growl wrenched Milla from her thoughts. She froze dead in her tracks. A hideous, clinging dread rooted her to the spot as something massive prowled into the clearing. With a tiny cry of fear, Milla shuffled around.

She nearly passed out with fright.

A great, four-legged beast occupied a quarter of the clearing. Though it stooped close to the ground, its sheer bulk meant it towered twice over Milla's height. She was distantly related to this creature. A gigantic canine snout extended three feet from its head. Razor sharp teeth filled its massive jaw. Its beady little eyes peered out from on high. They drank her in. She stared back, nearly dead from fear alone. As its colossal bulk prowled forward, a great tail rose up behind. She fell down and automatically scrabbled backwards. The beast just advanced faster. As it loomed over her, Milla summoned no defences. Her back hit the tree. She closed her eyes and looked away. The hot breath of the beast bathed her in the stench of rotting meat and putrid saliva. She whined and tried to twist away from the beast as much as she could. It roared. Milla shrieked and covered her head.

An Avalician cry rang out through the air. She went still with recognition.

 _Fai!_

Milla's eyes shot open.

Fai leapt through the air and stabbed his knife deep into the beast's neck. It howled. The creature shook itself wildly. Fai clung on with all his might. Milla flattened herself against the tree. She gaped in horror as Fai was flung bodily off of the beast. It raised a gigantic claw…

 _ **NO!**_

Shun sprinted into the clearing. With a yell, he cut the beast across its paw. A deafening yelp shook the clearing as the beast staggered away. A swathe of blood covered the floor of the clearing. Milla winced. She tried to look away. A deafening roar dragged her back as the beast advanced on Shun and reared its head. He stumbled backwards with a cry.

It lunged.

Milla watched the beast pick Shun up in its jaws. Her transfixed eyes transmitted every last detail to her brain. The jaws clamped down. There was a sickening crunch. Shun flew up into the air with a flick of the great beast's neck…

…and he was gone.

" **EEEEEEEEEEAAAAAGH!"**

The world faded away from Milla. She saw Fai stand up heroically, but she didn't really notice him. She watched, unseeing, as he charged the beast down. Milla went limp at the base of the tree and stared out into space. A howl of pain washed over her, but it sounded murky, almost as if she was underwater. She heard the sound of gunfire and heavy, retreating footfalls. Milla withdrew into her own little world. She didn't even cover her eyes. She couldn't see the blood anyway. Her eyes detected it, but her brain wouldn't take any more horror in. She lay at the foot of the tree with her arms limp by her side. Her legs pressed up against her chest.

She yelped as a pair of heavy gauntlets grabbed her shoulders.

" **YOU!"**

Milla couldn't tense up any more than she already had. She had no slack to give. The word ricochet around her brain. It joined a queue of other terrors her mind hadn't even processed yet. She turned her head up slowly and stared at the furious, grief-stricken Fai.

"You…" he snarled, trembling. " _Why?_ _Why_ did you run?"

Milla stared back at him blankly. Her eyes alighted on something.

" _Tell me!"_ Fai's voice trembled. "He was _my friend!_ _**Why did you run?!**_ "

Milla stared at the pistol in his holster. A hand tugged her head roughly around.

" _ **Look at me…"**_ Fai menaced.

His attention was entirely on her face. Milla reached out quietly. She grabbed the edge of the gun. Fai noticed her pull it out of his holster. He stared blankly.

"What… what are you-"

Milla twisted it around in her hands. She pointed it up towards her chin. She fired…

A deafening bang rang out through the clearing.

"No…" Fai whispered.

Milla opened her eyes.

Fai held her hands. His grip was tight as a vice. Milla's shot had hit nothing but air. He'd pulled the gun out of the way at the last second. The heated shot had flown harmlessly away into the atmosphere.

"No… not you too."

A scared young man stared into Milla's eyes. His hands trembled violently. She still gripped the cold metal of the gun.

"Come on," he whispered. "Give it to me."

Milla's eyes slid away, and her head fell sideways. She surrendered the weapon silently. She leant back heavily against the tree. She didn't cry. She felt absolutely dead inside. She'd lost something when Shun disappeared down that animal's throat. Fai picked her up. He hoisted her up over his shoulder. Milla went completely still. She hung from him like a carcass. He carried her off into the woods.

Fai said nothing on the way back to camp. Milla didn't move. The trail of debris her panicked flight through the forest left made finding the way back an almost automatic task. The fire had gone out by the time they got back to camp. Dreary ashes were all that remained. Fai set her down by the edge. She sat quietly on her knees. He knelt down beside her.

"I'm going to look for more firewood," he explained quietly. "I'm sorry, but if you run away again…" he pulled a coil of rope out from nearby. "…I'm going to have to use this. Do you understand?"

Milla remained motionless. Fai stared into her unwaveringly.

"Please say something," he pleaded. "Don't leave this all to me."

Milla remained silent. Fai looked down in frustration. He began to pull the rope along her wrists. Milla offered no resistance. He hesitated. Then he dropped the rope to one side.

"Just stay put. Please." His voice broke.

Fai stood up and wandered off. Milla didn't even watch him go. She sat completely motionless on the ground. A single tear slid down her cheek as her mind slowly restarted.

 _Why do you care?_

* * *

Milla sat alone in the woods. She'd been wrong about the time. The sun slowly strengthened in the sky above. It was morning. At some point, she'd shifted from her knees and sat down upon the ground. Her knees were curled up around her chest.

 _They must be searching for me._

Carol and Lilac would have returned long ago. They would have gone straight after her. Milla wept. Lilac's words echoed through her head.

 _I hope this doesn't sound weird but… that's kind of impressive. I wouldn't survive a day without my treehouse._

Milla pictured Lilac sprinting across the ice as the cold closed in around her. Why hadn't she caught up? Lilac was far faster than Milla.

 _She never made it,_ Milla realised. _She's probably dead._

She hid her head in her knees.

 _You destroy everything you touch. It wasn't enough to get caught by Brevon. You had to run away. What did you think she'd do, just abandon you? She's a good person._

 _Not like you…_

Was Carol ok at least?

 _How could she be?_ Milla asked herself bitterly. _She follows Lilac everywhere. She stood up to her that one time, but that was before…_

Milla yelped as she remembered how they'd found Lilac after that. She began to cry so hard it hurt her lungs.

 _I have to help them. I have to-"_

 _Shut up._

Milla stood up. She'd almost, _almost,_ decided to race out onto the ice and try to find her friends. Instead, she curled up upon the ground once more. The discarded rope lay close beside her, reminding her of Fai's warning.

 _Everything you do makes things worse. Shut up, and do what you're told._

The last shred of Milla's self-esteem slid away. She waited for Fai to return. She didn't say anything until he came back with the firewood. She didn't say anything then either. Fai tried to talk to her, but Milla stayed silent. She'd already made up her mind.

She would never speak again.


	15. Carol's Mission

Carol's Mission

Carol huddled miserably between two soldiers from Shang Mu. She'd swaddled herself in her blanket, but it did little to keep out the cold. Her fur had frozen to her face, the only part of herself she dared leave uncovered. The wind stung her eyes and tore through her clothes like paper. Even her heavy fur offered little real protection.

 _I'm going to freeze!_

Carol was scared. The cold bit into her so deeply she felt like she might pass out. She didn't dare speak up. She didn't want to slow them down. She sank down as far as she could and tried not to let anyone know she was suffering. She knew the soldiers hated her presence there. If she showed any sign of weakness, they would drag her back to camp.

"Do you see anything Neera?" The corporal shouted over the wind.

"If I see something, I'll tell you!" Neera yelled back.

Neera had been in a dark mood ever since they'd left the ship. She hadn't said a word to Carol the whole time. Carol wished she'd kept her trap shut. She felt useless here. She was at it again, running off into a dangerous situation she didn't understand. She wasn't even dressed for this. Tucked under a blanket, she couldn't even look out the side of the vehicle.

Half an hour had passed, and they'd found nothing. They'd seen no sign of life or shelter. Carol's hope slid away by the second as they crossed the desert of ice. She fought bravely to stay quiet, but the cold and her growing despair defeated her. She needed to know what was going on.

"I-is there any sign of them?" She asked weakly.

She fooled nobody. They could all hear how cold and afraid she was. Her bravado was gone, and everyone knew it. Neera leaned heavily against the side. She sighed heavily.

"Stop the jeep." she ordered.

Carol's heart fell through her feet. She waited tensely. She didn't dare speak again. She'd say or do anything at this point if it meant they'd continue the search. The vehicle ground to a halt. A dreadful silence descended over the company.

 _They're going to turn back. They're going to turn back because of me. Lilac…_

Just as Carol was about to burst, Neera threw open the passenger door. Carol jumped in surprise. She looked on anxiously as Neera got out. Neera turned to Carol. She scowled.

"Can you get out please?" She asked impatiently.

Carol hesitated. She didn't understand what this was about. Nervously, she clambered across the soldier to her left and got out of the vehicle. She didn't know what was going to happen.

 _Are they going to abandon me out here?_ She thought fearfully. _I'm just slowing them down._

The cold cut through her exposed legs. She shivered violently. Neera sized her up. She wasn't impressed.

 _This is it,_ Carol thought miserably. _This is where she tells me to go back._

Neera sighed. She began to take off her parka. Carol's confusion mounted.

"What are you-"

"Here." Neera said tiredly.

She handed Carol the blue coat. Carol accepted it wordlessly.

"Hurry up and put it on." Neera said impatiently.

She already sounded more than a little cold.

"But what about-"

Neera ignored Carol. She got back into the jeep without another word. Someone handed her a spare blanket from the back. She accepted it silently. Carol realised with a pang that Neera wasn't even angry. She just wanted to get out of the cold. The adults knew what they were doing. They had a job to get on with. If that meant one of them had to live without a coat, so be it. Carol was just an obstacle in their way. She realised what they saw her as. To them, she was just a silly child. Ashamed, she pulled the parka on.

 _I'm playing at this,_ she realised. _I'm not helping at all._

The soldiers waited for her to get back in the jeep. They grew more impatient by the second. No one had said a word to Carol since she'd joined the search. She knew they didn't see her as part of it. She was finding it harder and harder to argue. She clambered miserably into the middle seat and huddled down amongst the soldiers again. She felt tiny. The jeep began to accelerate before she'd even sat down. She nervously handed the soldier to her left her blanket.

"Could you give this to-"

The soldier took it from her hands before she could finish. He wordlessly handed the second blanket to Neera. Though he didn't say anything, Carol sensed that he was intensely angry. A deep gloom settled over her.

 _I'm sorry._

The parka did at least allow Carol to take part in the search. She stared out into the mists. She occasionally saw vast shapes moving along the icy wastes. Huge, elephantine creatures roamed these lands. They were larger than anything Carol had ever seen. What they ate she didn't know.

 _Maybe Lilac and Milla took shelter amongst them._ she thought despondently.

Carol shot the idea down the moment after she completed it. Lilac and Milla were dressed for the humid forests of eastern Shuigang. They would never have stayed warm enough. The wastes stretched interminably on. Carol despaired.

 _There's nowhere for them to hide. I fell over in the snow hours ago. Lilac doesn't even have fur. She won't have stood a chance._

She's _**dead. It's hopeless!**_

Carol suddenly crumpled forward. She burst into tears. Everyone in the vehicle shifted uncomfortably. Neera suddenly twisted around.

"Carol."

Carol's head shot up. Neera had a way with words. Her voice was gentle, but she cut herself off so sharply Carol had to take notice. It snapped her out of her despair.

"Look around you," she instructed, "Can you tell me anything about the terrain?"

Carol stared at her nonplussed.

"Terrain," Neera repeated, "What does the ground look like?"

Bewilderment mixed with Carol's despair. It won out. She looked out at the wastes.

 _What is she talking about?_

"Umm…" she croaked.

She half-expected Neera to answer the question for her. Neera just waited patiently. The soldiers around her had also taken interest. Only the corporal looked away. He had to focus on the road, but she sensed he was listening also.

 _Is this some kind of game?_ Carol wondered irritably. _Or are they just trying to take my mind off things?_

She wiped her eyes.

 _I might as well find out where they're going with this._

"Flat," Carol said quietly. "Lots of ice. It's really cold, and there's no shelter."

Carol's voice broke. Neera rapidly moved her on.

"Don't worry about that just now," she said gently. "Do you see anything out there?"

Carol composed herself. She tackled the new angle.

"There are animals," she managed. "Big ones. I don't know what they are. I've never seen them before."

Neera seemed to think for a moment.

"Which way are they going?" She asked suddenly.

For a moment, Carol was completely at sea. She stared out into the mists. She struggled to contain a sudden burst of outrage. She didn't want to think about this horrible place, of what it meant for her friends. Then the answer struck her in the face.

"They're all going the same way we are!" she cried in realisation.

Neera smiled softly.

"Well done," she said, "They're all travelling north. They have to feed on something, so there must be something on the other side of this wasteland. I believe we're on a frozen sea, which is why there aren't any hills or forests. If Lilac and Milla got to the other side…"

Anxious hope burst through Carol's chest.

"…then they might have taken shelter there!" she cried.

 _There's hope. They might not be dead. Thank you…_

Carol's hope wavered. Neera's face grew grim again.

"We still don't have any prints to follow," she explained gently. "Carol, they might well have crossed the ice and found somewhere to take shelter. But if they didn't…"

"I know," Carol said quietly. "They're probably..."

She trailed off and looked down. Neera stared at her sadly for a few moments. Then she turned away. Neither of them were prepared to say the word yet, but false hope would have been cruel. A cold, lonely silence settled over the jeep. Carol burned away anxiously in the back of the jeep. She couldn't despair any more, but she didn't dare hope. The stress was almost unbearable.

 _Please be ok. Please. I don't ask for much. Just **please** let my friends be alive! Can't something go our way for once?_

It seemed impossible to cross this forsaken place on foot, but Carol was inside a vehicle. She couldn't warm herself by moving. Lilac and Milla would both have been hurtling across the ice at over fifty miles an hour. That generated a lot of heat. Lilac could even break seventy over the flats, though that was her absolute limit. It all depended how much ice there was to cross. Carol had collapsed after she'd run out of stamina. She'd then been stunned by the tracks disappearing. Lilac and Milla might not have suffered such a body blow. If they had somehow kept going, sheer speed could have carried them to the other side.

 _You disappeared before. I thought I'd lost you forever. You came in riding a giant dragon and made everything ok again. I can't give up. We have to keep trying._

Carol settled down grimly into her seat. There didn't seem to be much else she could do. She saw Neera suppress a shiver. Carol's expression hardened with determination.

 _I can put this right at least. I can show them that I'm not a little kid._

Carol took the parka off without a word. She leaned forward and, as quietly as possible, dropped it into Neera's lap. Neera looked down at it blankly. The corporal looked round anxiously. Carol looked him dead in the eyes.

"What are you-" Neera began.

"Whatever you do, keep driving." Carol said to the corporal.

 _They need to know they can rely on me._

She stood up and leapt from the vehicle. Neera shot round.

"CAROL!" she screamed.

Landing on your feet at fifty miles an hour is no easy feat. Landing on your feet from a standstill is even harder. Carol managed it effortlessly. The wind dragged her arms behind her, but her legs just kept moving. The soldiers gasped as she came running up the side of the vehicle. It was easy. She wasn't even running at top speed. She ran up next to the corporal.

"Told you." she said tersely.

Carol would normally have had a lot of fun with this. Running faster than a speeding vehicle was fun whatever way you spun it. The corporal looked from her to his speedometer and then back to her again. He couldn't believe his eyes. Neither could the soldiers. They stared at Carol as if she was a mirage. Carol didn't smile or laugh. She wasn't doing this to show off. Neera wasn't amused.

"Focus on the road!" she chided the corporal. "Carol, what are you _doing?_ " she hissed.

"Keeping warm," Carol explained grimly. "I'm not baggage."

Neera stared in dawning comprehension.

"Ok." She said quietly.

Carol focused on her running. Crashing at fifty miles an hour was no prettier on foot than it was in a vehicle. Neera's forehead creased with worry.

"Be careful not to exhaust yourself." she cautioned.

Carol rolled her eyes. She knew her limits. She'd learned them the hard way over a dozen times.

"Just put the coat on!" she said, frustrated.

Neera complied silently. No one said a word. Carol's fear and apprehension melted away. For once, she owned this. This was _her_ mission. Lilac and Milla were _her_ friends. If there was any way to save them, it would be _her_ who found it. She wasn't following anyone anymore. Carol hurtled into the north. She began to pull away from the jeep. A burst of confidence inspired her to take the lead.

"Stay close to us!" the corporal ordered.

"Keep your hair on! I'll stay in sight!" Carol yelled back.

 _We need a pair of eyes ahead._ she thought to herself quietly.

Carol was sprinting by this point. She'd almost left the jeep in the mists. She eased up the pace a little. She really would tire herself out at that rate, and if either of them changed direction they could get separated. The harsh winter winds crashed into her and then scattered in every direction, defeated by her heated muscles. The terrain beneath her feet was a blur. She looked out as far as she could see.

The ground opened up in front of her.

Carol yelped. She tried to skid to a halt. The snow beneath her feet bunched up and even melted in places as sheer momentum dragged her through it. She hit bare ice.

"STOP!"

She stopped on the very edge of the pit. A long way down she saw a glimpse of dark water. Her world seemed to slow down around her as her brain began a series of frantic calculations. She twisted around. The jeep hurtled towards the pit. The sound of screaming brakes filled her ears. The wheels had locked. They couldn't stop in time! Carol leapt forward. She crouched down in front of the speeding vehicle. She dug her right hand into the exposed ice, stuck her left shoulder out, and braced.

The last thing Carol saw was the terrified face of Neera Li. Then the jeep hit her dead on. The most tremendous force she'd ever experienced forced her shoulder into its socket. Something snapped. The impact drove a tonne of force directly onto her bracing right arm. It couldn't bend or move away. The only thing that saved Carol from being crushed between the jeep and the earth was the sharpness of her claws. The ice gave way first. A terrifying screech assailed her ears. She gouged five tiny fissures into the ice. Every ligament in her right arm screamed in agony. Her bones felt like they were about to snap in half. A deep, nauseating pain exploded through her entire left-hand side.

She couldn't really see anymore. Her world was reduced to the metal upon her shoulder and the force upon her arm. The terrifying sounds around her blended together into an incomprehensible crescendo. She couldn't pick out the sound of the engine or the sound of the breaking ice anymore. People were screaming. She was vaguely aware of being moved across the ground at a moderate speed. Carol couldn't have released her hand if she wanted to. Her right arm was jammed solidly into the ground. Suddenly, it ended. The jeep stopped. Her right hand was released. Carol collapsed backwards in a daze.

She fell off the edge.

Carol screamed. She somersaulted in mid-air and swung out wildly with her battered right arm. Her claws dug into the side of the ice sheet. Her abused arm screamed in protest as her entire weight fell upon it once more. Her momentum began to drag her down through the ice towards the water below. She tried to move her left arm. Sharp, screaming pain erupted deep within her shoulder. It was so intense she fell silent, stunned. A painful tug stopped her just two body lengths above the water. She hung there half-conscious. Her world was pain. Her entire chest felt like it was on fire. The debilitating, blazing pain originated in her left shoulder, but she could only tell if she concentrated. Carol's right arm felt like it had been broken along its length, even though she could clearly move it. Her back hurt from holding back an entire vehicle. Weakly, she looked down. Perilously cold water lay just two body-lengths below her. She tried again to move her left arm even through the pain. It felt like it was locked in place. She was scared to try anymore. Her arm seemed to hang too close to her chest. Bile rose in her throat. It felt horribly unnatural.

 _I can't climb up!_

"CAROL!"

Neera's voice rang through the air. A horrible, gripping fear seized Carol as she was called back to reality. Shel looked up. Neera lay prone at the edge of the pit. Their eyes met. Neera looked petrified.

 _She's as scared as I am_.

Neera couldn't reach her. Carol whimpered with fear and pain. The weight hurt her claws, and a deep, nauseating ache had settled into her left shoulder. She couldn't move it. Half a dozen scared helmets appeared at the side of the ice. For a few seconds, Carol and Neera just stared at one another. Both were rooted to the spot. Eventually, Neera forced her features back into line, but Carol could physically see the strain. She called down.

"Hold on!"

Her voice was very weak.

"We'll get the rope!" the corporal said.

He darted away on the verge of panic. Carol looked up pleadingly at Neera. She seemed to be locked in place.

"Just hold on a little longer." Neera pleaded quietly, her eyes wide. "You can do that, ok?"

 _You care,_ Carol thought. _You actually care._

She didn't understand. This woman had been her hated enemy just a day ago. Now she looked at Carol like one of her own family members was in danger. At some point, they'd become friends. Carol didn't have long to think about that. She shrieked as her claw slid down a little and looked down fearfully at the water.

"I can't hold on!" she gasped. "Please… I don't want to die…"

She really didn't. Just a few hours ago, Carol had been ready to leave the world. Now that she was confronted by the very real prospect of freezing to death underwater, she suddenly realised how unpleasant a prospect that really was. She looked up to see Neera lowering the shaft of her spear down towards her. Neera seemed a little more composed.

"Carol, grab onto this!" she said.

She still couldn't keep panic out of her voice. Carol could see her breathing long, drawn out breaths. She quailed at what she was being asked to do. It seemed impossible. The spear was smooth and angled straight down. Carol had only one good arm to grab it with. She'd have to jump her length again to get it. She could barely hold on where she was. Her hand began to slide…

 _Someone please help!_

Then it hit Carol. She finally understood the burst of confidence she'd felt out on the ice. She'd put herself in this position. This was her fight. No one was going to help her win it this time. Lilac couldn't intervene at the last second. She had no Spade to run to for help. No one was going to yell at her for endangering herself, because she was in more trouble than a simple yelling could get her out of. The adults were just up there. They'd tried to keep her away. They couldn't reach her now. Carol had told them she wasn't a child anymore. Now it was up to her. If she couldn't reach that spear, she would drown in the murky waters of the arctic.

Maybe Carol could have lived with that. She'd stopped that jeep after all. She'd saved the expedition and all lives onboard, but there was so much more she needed to do. She could see the fear in Neera's eyes. She wasn't the only one. Four soldiers looked down at her. She knew every single helm hid a terrified face. They were trying to find her friends, but if she died, it would only underscore how dangerous the expedition was. How would they be able to continue? The one girl they'd managed to find would be dead. They had responsibilities just like she did now. They weren't going to commit suicide to save her friends. Carol had come out here to help keep them safe. She still needed to do that.

Her friends waited up in the north. Lilac and Milla had both tried so hard. They'd both put everything they had into defeating Brevon, but _they_ were the ones who needed help now. If Carol couldn't save them here, they might never make it home, even if they had found shelter. Even if a patrol somehow picked them up later, was this how it was supposed to end? With her dead, and them on their own? Hadn't she promised Lilac they'd go home together? Weren't they sisters? How could she say such things and then die in a hole in the ground?!

Her family waited for her back home. She didn't know where they were or what they were doing. She didn't even know if they would recognize her now, but she _had_ to see them. She had to survive. She looked up at the spear.

 _It's my only chance!_

Carol threw all her strength into her arm. She propelled herself up into the air. With only one arm to balance with her flight was a clumsy mess. She swung wildly for the spear. Desperation led her hand to it. She couldn't find her grip! She cried out in terror as she slid down.

"CAROL-"

Neera's anxious cry was mercifully cut short. Carol's descent stopped. She clung onto the circular weight at the end of the weapon.

"Got it!" she gasped. "I've got it! Get me out of here, _please!"_

Neera had already figured that out. She was clinging to the weapon with both hands.

"Come… on…" she groaned.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" Carol hollered. "LIFT A WEIGHT SOME TIME!"

She looked up. They had a major problem. Carol might have been a child, but she was already heavier than Neera was and was almost her height. The spear shaft was narrow, and there was a limit to how much force it could be gripped with. Neera would have to lift the vertical shaft straight up into the air with more than her body weight attached to the bottom. The feat would have intimidated a body builder. The angle meant that no one could intervene. If they tried to help, they'd probably end up in the water. Neera was on her own.

"Carol listen to me!" she cried down. "I need to change my grip! You're going to drop down a little!"

Carol gulped. Her heart settled in her stomach.

"Fine!" she cried miserably. "Just get on with it! I can't… _I can't hold on much longer!"_

Neera shifted her hand up towards the head of the spear. Then she moved up the second one. The end of the spear shook a little. Carol yelped as she was jerked around in mid-air.

"I'm done!" Neera cried, "Hold on!"

The shape of the spearhead gave her a little extra leverage. She began to haul Carol up. Carol clung on for dear life. Slowly, she began to rise.

"Someone help me up!" Neera cried.

Two nearby soldiers obliged. They picked Neera up and helped her reach a crouch, and then a standing position. In a draconic burst of strength, Neera levered Carol out of the pit. The reverse of the spear came level with the ice. Carol slipped…

 **"AAAAAH!"**

…and stopped. She slammed against the ice wall hard. The impact nearly knocked her out. Her shoulder screamed at her again.

 _Please… stop…_

"Got you…"

One of the soldiers had grabbed her arm. He squatted by the edge of the pit. With a tug, he hauled Carol out of the pit and onto hard ground. Carol lay on her face. Someone rolled her over.

"Got you." the soldier repeated breathlessly.

Neera rushed to her side.

"Carol are you ok?" She asked anxiously.

Carol was too dazed to speak at first. Her vision swam. If she'd been more conscious, she might have started to cry. As it was she just lay there weakly.

"My arm..." she whispered.

She felt Neera roll her left sleeve up. A finger prodded at the joint of her shoulder. A spear to the chest would have been more welcome.

"AH!" she cried.

Neera prodded again, at a slightly different location this time. Carol whimpered.

"Stop it…" she complained weakly. The pain was waking her up.

"Worse or better?" Neera asked sternly.

" _Better,"_ Carol growled. "No-OWWW!"

"Worse?"

Carol nodded. She could feel a line of pain that reached down deep into her chest. Neera grimaced.

"You've broken your shoulder." she explained.

 _Oh…_

Carol's battered mind took some time to process that. To her surprise, she wasn't afraid. She was more frustrated than anything.

"Oh _come on,_ I've been hit by worse." she moaned.

Neera was visibly disturbed by that. She took pause for a second.

"Carol, you were just hit by a _truck._ "

"It wasn't going very fast!"

"It was going _ten miles an hour!_ " Neera cried. "You stopped a _**tonne**_ on your shoulder! Do you… do you have any idea how much force..."

Carol groaned.

"I once had a metal crusher dropped on my head…" she complained. "Spikes and everything. Stupid airship."

Carol wasn't sure if she was annoyed or amused by the look of abject horror on Neera's face. Neera eventually settled for worry.

"Well you didn't get so lucky this time," she said, quiet with shock.

"Can you fix it?" Carol asked irritably.

Neera hesitated.

"We need to get your shoulder X-rayed. I can give you petal essence, but if the bone heals incorrectly, your arm might end up paralysed. You might need…"

The ground began to shake beneath their feet. Neera was nearly turfed off her knees.

"An _earthquake?!_ " she cried. " _Now?!_ Are you _**kidding**_ me?"

 _She's not as composed as she used to be._ Carol thought grimly.

The shaking got worse. The soldiers began to lose their balance. One toppled over with a cry.

"The animals are running away!" the corporal yelled.

Neera and Carol joined the dots together. They stared at each other in frightened, mutual comprehension.

"That's not an earthquake, is it?" Carol asked fearfully.

Neera closed her eyes for a second. For a moment, Carol feared that the situation was going to overwhelm her. She didn't know what to do. Neera opened her eyes. She stared down at Carol despondently. Suddenly, she pulled out a syringe full of red liquid. She jammed it into Carol's arm before she could protest. Carol cried out in alarm.

"Pray this works." Neera whispered.

The moment she was finished, she pulled Carol to her feet. Neera sprang into action.

"Up you get," she whispered, keeping her voice steady. "EVERYONE GET BACK! GET BACK TO THE JEEP!"

She didn't even bother to keep the fear from her voice. It added to her authority here. If Neera Li was afraid, it was everyone's business to be. The soldiers scrambled. A few fell over in the attempt. The corporal hurled the rope he'd salvaged from the back to the side and threw himself into the driver's seat. His subordinates weren't so composed.

"SOMETHING'S COMING!" Neera yelled. "MOVE! NOW!"

She twirled Carol around. Before Carol knew what was happening Neera had gripped her around the waist and leapt up into the air with her. They landed in the passenger seat with a thud.

"How do you jump like-" Carol began.

"Back seat. Go." Neera said tersely.

Carol didn't need telling twice. She fumbled her way into the back. Already she could feel things moving inside her arm. Soldiers nearly landed on her as they threw themselves into the vehicle. One of them took the turret.

"Hang on!"

The corporal hit the gas. He hurtled around the pit and off into the north.

"Turn South!" Neera cried.

"Those animals are running-"

The ground exploded behind them before the corporal could finish his sentence.

 _Great,_ Carol thought. _Another fun day in the North._


	16. Call of the Wildcat

Call of the Wildcat…

Carol watched from the back seat as a colossal worm erupted from the ground. It leapt high into the sky. The sun shone off huge plates of blue bone that covered every segment of its body. Two great, fleshy membranes spread out from each side. They rippled in the air. The great beast flew towards their jeep in a manner that seemed to defy gravity. It gained on them at a terrifying rate.

"FIRE!" Neera cried.

The soldier on the turret finally snapped out of his shock. He gave a cry of fear. The turret burst into action. Miniaturised high explosive charges spewed forth from the cannon, but most of them missed. Carol looked on fearfully as the worm closed the distance. She could see the soldier's hands shaking violently. The gun's recoil threw him off every time it fired.

 _He's not strong enough to control the gun!_

Carol didn't dare move. She winced in pain as her skeleton rearranged itself under her flesh. She called out.

"Neera! You have to help him aim!"

Neera's head shot round. She looked at Carol, visibly surprised by her insight.

"Right." she said quietly.

She leapt up onto the gun platform, but the worm suddenly descended. It fell from the sky and shattered the earth just a short distance away. The ground quaked. It threw the jeep off to one side. Everyone was thrown violently to the right. The soldier on the turret clung onto its control column, but Neera was thrown from her feet. She began to slide off the vehicle. Carol made a grab for Neera's parka. She grabbed the hood, but her grip was so weak it was pulled from her grasp. It slowed Neera down just a hair. The soldier to Carol's right slammed his hands hard into Neera's shoulders. She cried out in pain but came to a dead stop.

"Sorry!" Carol cried.

"Got you!" the soldier shouted. "That was-"

"Let me up!"

Neera cut him off with a shout. She sprang to her feet. She almost fell down again. The ground trembled beneath the jeep. She grabbed the turret's control column for support. The corporal struggled to hold the vehicle steady. Carol didn't dare stand up. She knelt against the back of her seat and looked out over the ice. Everyone knew they were being hunted. She could feel the tension in the air. Neera took the left side of the turret. She beckoned the gunner to move aside. She called out over the howling wind.

"I'll aim. You hold it steady!"

"What _is_ that thing?" Carol asked anxiously.

For a moment, she thought no one had heard her. Then Neera answered.

"A wyrm," she explained, "It's a gigantic, armoured scavenger," A note of confusion entered her voice, and she spoke more quietly, "They normally only eat large, dead animals. I don't understand why this one's after-"

The ground exploded an uncomfortably short distance away from them. The wyrm leapt up into the air. This time the soldiers were ready. Three small arms appeared as if from nowhere, and a barrage of heated shot lit up the sky. To Carol's amazement, most hit their target. The soldiers of Shang Tu knew their craft. Brevon's goons would have missed almost continuously.

 _It's not doing any damage though…_

The wyrm glided menacingly towards them. Carol couldn't believe how gracefully it moved through the air. A sense of helplessness gnawed at her. She couldn't do anything against something like this! She had no ranged weapons, and her claws could do nothing against a creature that size. Her mind made a connection. A memory flashed through her mind in an instant.

* * *

 _That stupid panda girl!_

 _Come closer,_ Lilac whispered, _We can't let the guards hear us!_

Carol turned away irritably from the stone bars of Shang Tu prison. She turned to Lilac. Lilac regarded her quietly from the rocky floor. She maintained a neutral expression. Carol's anger turned to disquiet.

Lilac normally had three moods, excluding her response to immediate danger. Most of the time she was cheerful. She could get frustrated after a bad turn. For example, she'd gone on a bit of a rant after their airship crashed. Carol didn't really pay much attention to those last two moods. They meant everything was under control. Cold neutrality changed everything. If Lilac was trying that hard to make things seem normal, they probably weren't. Carol's anger suddenly felt inappropriate. This was serious. She quietly walked over to Lilac. Lilac stood up almost without a sound.

 _Now, let's try and figure this out…_ she whispered.

* * *

Lilac had figured it out. It had been a bad idea, but she still managed to get them out of prison and back after Brevon. As the wyrm flew towards them, Carol realised what she had to do.

 _I can't fight,_ she realised, _but I can still think!_

She saw the sails. She had a part of her mind that could fix a bike in an instant. That same part of her mind put two and two together. She looked from the wild, undirected fire of the soldiers to Neera's disciplined, calculated shots from the jeep's gun. She found she disapproved. Men cheered as a section of armour exploded off the wyrm, but that wasn't slowing it down. They could do better. They had to.

 _We can't stop it that way. We have to…_

The connections flew together. Carol had a brainwave.

"Target the sails!" she cried.

Every head in the vehicle twisted round. Only Neera kept firing. Carol repeated herself.

"Target the sails! It controls its flight that way!"

The wyrm loomed closer to them. They were almost under its shadow.

"If we can't slow it down it's going to land on us!" she cried. "Shoot the sails! Now!" She hollered in frustration. _"The wing-like things!"_

The soldiers finally understood what she meant. A barrage of shots tore through the fleshy membrane of the wyrm. It shuddered in the air and lost altitude. It suddenly seemed to give up. It tilted violently towards the ground. It struck the ice some distance away and tunnelled in with incredible speed. The ground shook, but Neera clung onto the control panel, and the soldier to her right helped her keep the gun steady. She blasted the wyrm with a fusillade of explosive rounds. Massive holes were torn in the beast's armour. The men cheered.

"We're doing it!" a soldier cried, "We can hurt it!"

"Well done Carol!" another cried.

Carol filled with quiet pride. She'd never thought like that before. It was a new feeling. She knew she could fight, steal and run, but she'd never come up with a plan that she felt matched Lilac's level of creativity. Others had taken her seriously. It had even worked! Carol was used to having her plans dismissed or even laughed off. They were a joke half of the time. She didn't have long to rest on her laurels however.

"It's coming at us again!" Neera warned, "Focu-"

She was cut off. The earthquake suddenly intensified. Neera couldn't aim anymore. It was all she could do to cling on. The soldier to Carol's right suddenly grabbed his comrade's right leg. He held him steady. Carol realised what he was doing. She grabbed at Neera's legs. To her relief, her left arm responded. The jeep pitched violently to the right. Carol cried in fear as she was lifted momentarily from her seat, but her kneeling position helped anchor her to the ground. Her weight pulled Neera back down to Avalice. Neera cried out in surprise from the momentary flight. Without Carol's added weight, she would have been turfed from the vehicle.

"Thanks!" She shouted back.

"Don't mention it!" Carol yelled, "Just stop that-"

The ground exploded before she could finish. Carol let go of Neera in shock as she opened up with the cannon. She stared in horror as two wyrms now leapt from the ice. The closest one had great rents torn in its armour. Pink, jelly-like flesh could be seen through the holes. Carol gasped. She could see the thing's beating heart. Behind it, a pristine wyrm lifted itself up into the air. Her heart sank through her stomach. The soldiers opened fire around her, but it did nothing to soothe her fears. She felt sick with fear as she saw Neera's fire do nothing to the gel-like flesh under the wyrm's armour. Every shell seemed to sink in harmlessly. Neera growled in frustration.

"The shells aren't having any effect!"

The first wyrm flew clumsily, but it was already close to the jeep. The soldiers blew more holes in the ice, but it now loomed over the vehicle.

 _It's going to hit the back of us at this rate!_ Carol thought with dread. She couldn't take her eyes off the thing's beating heart. _It keeps beating…_ she thought, grossed out. _Can we…_

"Neera! Can you shoot the heart?" Carol cried.

Neera grimaced.

"I can try!" she cried.

The wyrm now plunged down towards them. Neera fired. She hit the beating organ dead on. The wyrm twisted with pain in the air as an explosion ripped open its flesh. It lost altitude too quickly. Carol breathed again.

 _It's going to miss!_

It missed, but Carol's relief was short-lived. The wyrm struck the ground just metres away from the back of the jeep. The ground cracked. The jeep was thrown into a spin. Carol was thrown from her seat. She cried out, only to have the breath knocked from her as her back slammed into something hard and angular. Her vision blurred. She weakly sucked air into her lungs as the spinning slowly stopped. She registered that she'd hit someone's leg. A groan of pain filled her ears. She looked up to see a soldier lying over the side of the vehicle. She'd held him inside with her weight. To her front, the other soldier lay headfirst at her feet. At least he hadn't slammed into them. She pulled the first soldier back into the jeep. He collapsed onto the seat above.

"Thank you." he gasped.

Neera recovered first.

"DRIVE!" she gasped.

Carol shook slightly at the fear in her voice. The turret exploded into life once more. Carol felt the jeep begin to pull away. She staggered to her knees, only to be thrown down again as the ground erupted once more. She collapsed on her side below the seats again.

 **"OWW!"**

Her head collided painfully with a soldier's helmet. She shrugged it off grimly and stood up. When she finally looked up, she went still with fear. Neera fired bravely up at two fresh wyrms that now soared towards them. At least the first was nowhere to be seen. She broke chunks off of their armour, but they flew on relentlessly. A few soldiers continued to fire weak salvoes, but most were too stunned to continue fighting. The shots that were fired weren't that accurate. A mere handful hit the crucial sails. A massive shadow fell over the jeep as the closest one descended. In desperation, Carol grabbed the small arm of the stunned soldier to her left. She aimed up and fired.

 _He's not using it anyway!_ she thought angrily. _I'll do this myself!_

She yelped in surprise. Her shot went wide. Carol learned about firearm safety the hard way as the recoil nearly knocked the gun from her hands. A great maw fell down upon them. Neera screamed at the corporal.

"TURN, YOU HAVE TO TURN! HURRY-"

They almost made it. The corporal got ninety-five percent of the vehicle out of the way. The side of the wyrm's mouth clipped the very tail-end of the jeep. Most of the affected area was shorn off, but enough survived the impact for long enough to act as a lever. The front of the jeep was catapulted into the air. Carol screamed as she was tossed out and back. She heard screams and breaking ice and metal. Something hard struck her head. Everything went black.

She couldn't move. Someone was dragging her across the ice. Her head hurt. She opened her eyes. A flash of pain permeated through her entire skull. It forced her to shut them again. All she saw was a blur. She groaned. She couldn't formulate her thoughts. She felt herself being lain down across the ice as something was jammed into her arm. The ground vibrated. She felt weaker than she'd ever felt in her life. A blur of black and white crossed her eyes as they slowly fell open. Neera gasped.

"You're alive!"

Carol groaned. Neera sounded relieved… no, more than relieved. She sounded upset. Carol's skull felt like it would explode any second now. She could feel something trickling from her head. She tried to talk.

 _"mmmmughmmur…"_

"Hold still," Neera whispered.

She sounded deathly afraid. Carol watched her clench her eyes closed as the ground exploded behind her. Carol despaired. Even Neera Li, someone she'd previously seen as unshakeable, seemed to be losing hope.

"Come on… _come on…_ " she muttered

" _Nuugh…_ Neera…" Carol whispered.

She heard screams and panicked firing. Through the snowy mists, she watched a dreadful shape crest its jump and lurch towards the ground. Neera opened her eyes. She stood up and turned to face it. Carol cried out weakly as she leapt away.

 _Don't leave me!_

She had her spear in hand. Carol watched, paralysed with fear, as she flew up the side of the wyrm's body. She thrust her spear through its side. The spear seemed to drop from her hands. Maybe it had been torn from them. Part of it seemed to disconnect from its other half. Carol watched with horror as Neera lost control of her flight. She tumbled down through the air. Carol never saw her land. A blast of pain consumed everything as the wyrm crashed into Avalice… and was stopped dead. The world went silent… and then a colossal shudder ran through the entire earth. It felt like Brevon's starship had landed right next to her head. A crescendo of pain overwhelmed her senses as the impact launched her into the air.

She hit her head on the way back down.

* * *

Again, Carol woke. She felt someone shake her by the shoulders. A man's voice rang through her ears.

"I need your help! Come on, wake up!"

Everything was pain and sickness. Carol tried to hold her eyes closed. Couldn't it wait? She felt so tired.

" _I'm the only one left._ Wake up! Please!"

The ground shook below her feet. Carol opened her eyes. A strange soldier cradled her head in his hand. She couldn't see his face underneath his helmet, but she could feel his breath. He was panting heavily. He pulled her up into a sitting position. She whimpered from the pain. Something trickled down her head, and there was something in her arm. The shaking got worse. Her vision slowly cleared.

Neera Li lay horribly still on her front some distance away. Carol couldn't feel anything more than vague nausea. She clung to consciousness by a thread.

 _I think I'm going to die._

Why didn't that bother her? Not dying used to be kind of important. It was top of the list stuff really.

"She's alive," the unknown soldier said quietly. "But not for much longer. None of us will be as long as that thing still-"

The ground shook. Carol's vision faded. The soldier held her head still.

"Stay with me! _Please!_ I need your help to fight that thing."

"What thing?" Carol murmured weakly.

The soldier stared at her in disbelief.

"The wyrm!" he hissed, exasperated. "The thing that's going to _kill us all!_ Miss Li killed the other one, but…"

He fell silent.

 _What do you want me to do about it? Yeah, we're going to-_

He pulled her to her feet. Carol moaned in pain. She could feel the blood on her forehead now. That had to be a cracked skull. Her vision swam. Soldiers lay scattered across the ice. Some lay unconscious… or maybe dead. Others cowered upon the ice sheet. One soldier was fleeing as fast as he could across the ice. She already knew that he wouldn't get far. Carol looked up. The wyrm twisted down. She would be first. They would both be. Strangely, she no longer felt afraid. Everything hurt too much. If the solder let go of her now, she'd just collapse anyway. She was no more use, and she couldn't get away, so that was it.

Wait, why did she suddenly know who this strange soldier was? She finally recognised the corporal's voice. For some reason, things were coming back into focus. The pain lessened. The corporal clung to her arm. She sensed his terror. As the maw descended, Carol finally realised where she was and why she cared. She pushed the soldier away as hard as she could. A wave of pure fright lanced through her mind as she processed the scene in front of her.

"Run," she said groggily.

She staggered away in the opposite direction. It took all her concentration just to retain her balance. She looked up. The wyrm just changed direction. Time seemed to slow down. Why was she moving away from the corporal? Maybe she could confuse its senses? Carol wasn't really thinking any more. She stumbled, overbalanced and twisted round. She landed on her back.  
 _  
Is it going to miss?_

She saw the corporal sprinting away across the ice. His courage had failed, but he'd unwittingly given them a chance. The wyrm was about to land between them.

 _Maybe I can do something._

Carol could see a tiny glimmer of beating red. It lay deep within the thing's flesh. Punch drunk, she pulled herself up to a crouch. A desperate plan formed in her head. She leapt high into the air, higher than she'd believed possible in her current state. She didn't really expect this to work. She understood dimly that her claws would never push deeply enough into the flesh. She needed a greater reach or more force. Neera's spear had probably had just enough length. Carol's claws stood no chance.

It occurred to her that she had to really dig her fingers into the stuff the beast was made of. She had to really force her claws underneath the blubber. Kind of gross if you thought about it. Carol thought none of this word for word. Her unconscious mind was making a series of lightning fast calculations as she flew through the air at over twenty miles an hour. Her conscious brain was still barely functioning. It only referenced one thing, and that was for a second. It was a fight she remembered, one amongst many. She needed to remember its lesson.

She needed to know how to take down a juggernaut.


	17. Midnight Rendezvous

Midnight Rendezvous

 _Four years ago. Shang Tu. Merchant's Quarter._

It was the middle of the night. Carol ran through the streets in her pyjamas. The narrow twists and turns of Shang Tu frightened her, but she didn't dare stop. She didn't dare lose the cloaked figure ahead of her. She didn't know this part of town, and the figure was her only chance of leaving before morning. She ran after it like her life depended on it. Her bare feet splashed through the mud. Try as she might, Carol couldn't keep up. Dark corners and long, winding alleyways came one after another. As the figure rounded a corner far ahead, she called out.

"Lilac!"

Lilac disappeared round the corner. Carol launched after her. Her courage failed as she was seemingly abandoned in the streets.

" **Lilac wait for me!** _ **PLEA-**_ **"**

A hand grabbed her roughly by the lapels. It dragged her round the corner and slammed her roughly against a brick wall. She tried to scream, but a hand covered her mouth. It tasted like mud.

"Mmphmm!"

Lilac's furious features swam into view. She let the pressure off. Carol breathed again. Slowly, her best friend's filthy hand withdrew from her half-open mouth. Only a finger remained as garrison. Carol stared at Lilac's arm. She was too afraid to look at her eyes.

"What are you _doing_ here?" Lilac hissed.

It took Carol time to summon enough courage to speak. After a couple of false starts, she finally managed to croak out an answer.

"I was following you."

Lilac let her go. Her terrible expression softened. She looked burdened, guilty and above all, afraid.

"You're not supposed to be here." she whispered.

"Neither are you."

Carol glowered at her. Lilac hesitated. Her stern expression melted away to worry.

"I should take you home," she said gently. "I'm sorry if I-"

Carol shook her head.

"Why are you out here Lilac? Why are you dressed like a beggar?"

Lilac examined herself for a moment. Her woollen cloak lay on the ground. She'd dropped it when she grabbed Carol. The grey T-shirt she was wearing was absolutely filthy, and her cargo pants were frayed around the ends. Carol noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes, and she had dirt smudged all over her face. Lilac shivered in the cold.

"I'm dressed like a beggar because I want to look like a beggar." she replied.

Her expression hardened. Carol bristled angrily.

"That's all you have to say?"

Lilac folded her arms.

"Fine," she snapped, "It's a front. I'm casing the joint. If a soldier sees me, I want him to think I'm just trying to find a place to sleep. That's why I'm dressed like this."

Carol looked up at her in stern disbelief.

" _You're_ casing the joint?" She asked.

Lilac stared back at her with cold, unwavering certainty.

"Did Spade put you up to this?" Carol asked dourly.

Lilac didn't miss the note of bitterness in her voice. She looked uncomfortable as she shook her head.

"Then why are we out here Lilac?" Exasperation creeped into Carol's voice, "Why are you trying to case a store on your own? Have you even done this before?"

"Is that any of your business?"

Lilac's voice was cold and harsh. She stunned Carol. Carol opened her mouth to speak, but only air escaped. She winced as if in pain and looked down at her feet. When she managed to look up, her eyes glistened with tears.

"I _want to know what's happening to my_ _ **friend.**_ "

Her voice was choked with anger and pain. She glared at Lilac, visibly hurt and angry. Lilac wavered. She maintained her hard expression only with tremendous, visible effort. When Carol started to tremble, she put her hands on her shoulders.

"Carol, go home." she said softly.

Carol stared at her feet.

"I don't _remember the way._ " she spat.

Lilac sighed heavily. She took a hand from Carol's left shoulder and pressed it to her own forehead.

"Right, fine," She took a deep breath and let her hand drop from Carol's shoulder. "You'll have to come with me then."

Carol looked up.

"What do you want me to do?" She asked quietly.

Lilac snorted in frustration.

"Keep quiet." she said grimly.

She stooped down and picked up her cloak. She wrapped it wordlessly around Carol and offered the younger girl her hand. They set off silently up the street. The physical contact did nothing to bridge the unspoken gulf between them. Carol didn't speak until they were a considerable distance further on.

"I haven't seen you in weeks," she said quietly, "You're always training now. The other kids miss you, and Lei says you haven't been coming to classes."

"I've got other classes now." Lilac said quietly.

"With Spade?"

Carol spoke with venom. Lilac sighed.

"You don't like Spade, do you?" She said.

"I used to. Before he became a big _jerk."_

Carol suddenly came to a stop. She let go of Lilac's hand.

"You're acting just like him, you know. I feel like I'm losing you too."

Lilac stopped and bowed her head. She shuffled slowly round.

"What do you want me to do, Carol?" She asked sadly, "You're always asking me what I do. This is it. Just…"

She hesitated. Fear crept up Carol's spine as Lilac looked around herself fearfully.

"…just not on my own usually."

Carol stared sadly at her troubled friend.

"If you're unhappy, why don't you stop?" She asked gently, "Go back to classes. Stop hanging around with _those people._ "

Lilac hung her head and closed her eyes. Carol ambled up to her.

"Lilac, I'm not going to think any less of you if you stop this! I thought it was cool at the time, but you're _scaring_ me now! I just want you to-"

"I don't care about that Carol." Lilac said quietly.

Carol's face went blank with shock. Lilac changed course quickly.

"I mean… that's not why I'm doing this. Carol… I have a job to do and I need to get it done. Before morning comes and we both get skinned alive. Are you going to help me do it, or are you going to make it harder?"

Carol hung her head. She felt like her heart had been thrown in a trash bin. Lilac pressed on.

"I'll try to visit and take breaks more often," she said gently, "Now can we _please_ continue? I don't want to hang around this empty street any longer."

Her voice rose with fear, and she looked around again. Carol's reply was tiny.

"Ok."

She said nothing the rest of the way as Lilac led her along the road. The dirt paths gave way to cobble and then to proper stone. Carol looked up. They were entering one of the most affluent parts of Shang Tu. Imposing stone shops loomed up into the sky, some several stories tall. A few had big glass windows. Those were signs of great wealth and prestige. A few gorgeous, pagoda-style towers dominated the skyline. Each one was painted azure blue. There were precious few such things outside Shang Mu. Carol noted nervously that they weren't that far from the palace. A patrol rounded the corner. Carol froze with nerves.

 _Not now..._

Lilac squeezed her hand.

"Stay calm." she warned.

The soldiers approached. Carol wanted to give them a wide berth, but Lilac marched grimly on. She didn't veer around them or make any sudden change of direction. When Carol looked at her face, she saw that Lilac only gave the soldiers a glance. She walked on confidently down the road as if she had every business being there. The soldiers drew up across the street. Each wore the breastplate and steel cap that distinguished them as palace guard. Three pandas and a blue-feathered bird made it plain they were going to stop them. Lilac ground to a halt. She stopped Carol with a squeeze of the hand. The bird stepped forward. He was obviously in charge.

"What are you two doing out at this time of night?" He asked.

"We're looking for a place to sleep." Lilac explained calmly.

The soldier raised his eyebrows.

"Your friend looks awfully nervous." he observed.

"Probably because you're scaring her." Lilac said sullenly.

The soldier seemed to consider that for a second. He angled his spear up and planted the butt in the ground.

"Beggars aren't allowed here," he barked, "Get off the stone."

Carol's heart sank, but Lilac pulled a masterstroke. She hung her head in disappointment for a second. Then she looked up apologetically.

"We thought it would be safer here. It's ok for one night, right?"

She stared at the guard. Carol wondered at how Lilac could manage to look both guilty and frightened at the same time. The soldier sighed. No one could resist that.

"Find an alleyway and get to sleep," he grunted, "I want you out of here before the evening rush."

He stalked off with his subordinates in tow. Lilac and Carol waited a moment. Then, they set off down the road.

"That was _brilliant!_ " Carol said once they were out of earshot.

"No it wasn't," Lilac said grimly. "I was seen. Now I can't fool that soldier anymore. If he sees me in any other disguise, my cover's blown. He knows who I am now."

"Come on. That was cool!" Carol encouraged, "Anyway, he'll probably forget about you."

"Here's the problem with being a water dragon Carol. People tend not to forget you quickly," Lilac grumbled, "I should have covered my face."

"They'd have arrested you for sure then." Carol pointed out.

Lilac sighed.

"There are ways round that. A lot of beggars wrap their faces up in cloth at night. It helps keep them warm. The tentacles are a bit hard to disguise, but I can kind of make them look like my hair if I wear it just right."

She looked up at her spiky hair.

"I should grow this stuff out. I look like I'm trying too hard."

"If you're looking for fashion advice, the dirt smudges aren't doing ya any favours either." Carol teased.

"Yeah, yeah," Lilac rolled her eyes, "Last time we met there was a dress within ten feet of you. I'm surprised you didn't scream and turn to dust."

"Dresses are lame," Carol complained, "You can't fight in a dress."

"Uhuh…" Lilac said sceptically, "I could still kick your butt. Difference is, a boy might actually look at me in the process."

She smirked. Carol made a face.

"Eww…"

Lilac laughed.

"You know, this is nice," Carol observed happily.

"What, performing an illegal mission in the dead of night?" Lilac asked sarcastically.

"No, _talking._ You should try it more often." Carol smirked.

Lilac rolled her eyes.

"Alright…" she said tiredly, "You've got me there."

The distance that had grown between them lessened imperceptibly. Carol looked up at Lilac with worry.

"Lilac, what's really going on? Between you and Spade…"

Lilac's face fell instantly, along with the temperature.

"I asked you not to talk about that." she said darkly.

Carol's heart sank. She looked at her feet again. Lilac sighed in exasperation.

"Look, Carol… have you thought about what you want to do? When you're older?"

" _Uhhmm…"_

Suddenly, Lilac ground to a halt.

"This looks like a good place to sleep," she whispered.

She pulled Carol round to the left. A horribly narrow alleyway loomed before them. Carol tugged back.

"I _don't like this_!"

"Tough," Lilac muttered, "We need shelter."

She forced her way past a pair of dustbins that nearly took up the entire passage. Carol didn't have any choice but to follow. Lilac wouldn't release her hand. She had to hastily squeeze by the obstruction. She wanted to complain, but Lilac wasn't talking normally. Something else was happening. The dirty metal rubbed against her pyjamas. The air _reeked_ of garbage. The street lights became a memory as the world faded into shades of contrast. Carol peered around fearfully at every sinister silhouette as Lilac pushed her down behind the dustbins. She waited anxiously to be told what was going on.

"This is where we'll 'have a nap.' Try to sleep with your ears open," Lilac waved a hand across Carol's worried eyes, "I'm going to make sure this street is safe. If you 'hear' anything," Lilac waved her hands across Carol's eyes again, "scream at the top of your lungs. Then climb the walls. Understand?"

Carol didn't. She sat there silently, intensely afraid. Lilac sighed. She whispered into her ear.

"Look to your right."

Carol peered out of the alleyway. She gasped. A huge shop front rose up into the sky. It was made of beautiful blue stone that glimmered in the moonlight, but hardly any of it could be seen from the front. Instead, grim grey shutters lay closed over the shop's tremendous glass windows. Carol had never seen windows so large. They must have cost a fortune. She could see red lights gleaming at the top of each barrier. They would probably trigger alarms if forced open or even touched. Another great, imposing shutter closed over the shop's imposing front door. Carol could see a security camera sweeping its way across the street. She gulped. It swept across the alleyway in regular intervals.

 _This must be the place she's casing,_ Carol realised. _Lilac… an entire team couldn't break in here._

"Creep probably wouldn't spare us a crystal," Lilac grumbled aloud.

Carol had picked up on the act by now. Lilac whispered into her ear once more.

"Try to keep track of time in your head. If I'm not back in thirty minutes, go back to the hideout."

She hesitated.

"Tell Spade what happened." she said reluctantly.

She stood up without another word. Carol jumped to her feet after her.

"Wait…" She began anxiously.

Lilac sighed.

"If the guards feel like complaining about one beggar, they'll probably just haul me in for a few hours. I'll give them my name, you'll have to come bail me out, and… things'll proceed as they should."

Lilac went very quiet at that. Carol knew full well that the "name" Lilac referred to would not be her real identity. It would be the name she'd given the soldiers the last time she'd been arrested. Everyone in the Scarves had a "jail" name. It was a point of honour to have used it at some point. She also knew full well what "proceed as they should" referred to the colossal amount of trouble they'd be in once the Scarves knew they'd broken the rules.

"I'm just a kid after all." Lilac whispered.

She took a deep breath and began to set out. Carol called out one last time.

"When you said I should scream," she asked nervously, "Was that for real?"

Lilac turned around. She looked Carol dead in the eyes. No glimmer of humour or light escaped her own.

"Yes."

That was all she said. The last shred of confidence Carol had slipped away as Lilac turned around and walked off into the night. Carol was left in the dirty, creepy alleyway. She shuddered as something scuttled past her feet.

* * *

Despite her fear, Carol struggled to stay awake. The cold kept her sharp to some extent, but the small hours of the morning were aging now. She shuffled in the dirt and waited for Lilac to return. She'd been gone for twenty minutes. That seemed longer than it took to check the store front out and make a show of patrolling the neighbourhood. Carol wondered if she was trying the roof. Maybe there was an emergency exit round the side or something.

 _I wish she'd tell me what was going on,_ Carol thought to herself. _Lilac would never break the rules. Not unless she had a good reason. What are you doing, Spade? What have you dragged her into?_

A little nagging doubt grew in her mind. Lilac _was_ coming back, wasn't she? She hadn't been caught, had she? What if she tried to break in on her own? If it meant impressing Spade, Carol feared she'd do anything. She began to stand up.

A figure appeared at the end of the alleyway.

Carol froze. She put her foot down a little too hard. The ground shifted. Carol's face contorted in fear as an all-too-familiar face turned to face her. Her blood ran cold.

"Guang?" she cried.

Pu Guang's beady little eyes caught on Carol's red pyjamas. He chuckled evilly. His two great tusks glimmered sinisterly in the moonlight. They could have impaled a bike. The boar had been thrown out the Scarves just a few weeks previously. That time had not been kind to him. His fat belly was covered by a filthy green hoodie that had obviously seen better days. He'd lost a lot of weight since she'd last seen him. Even under his sleeves, she could see enormous, bulging muscles. Carol didn't know why he'd been thrown out, but she knew one thing. Only an unforgivable crime could get you thrown out of the Scarves.

"Call me "Pigging" again, Carol." he snarled.

Pigging… that was the nickname people gave him when they were sure he wasn't in earshot. Guang had a voracious appetite that barely matched his violent temper. Carol realised she was about to take his misfortune out on her. She opened her mouth.

She didn't have time. Carol's scream became a puny cry as Guang swept his hand over the canisters. She ducked down and then leapt away onto the wall. The quiet alleyway burst into noise. Guang smashed his way through the canisters. Carol could feel her blood pounding through her head. She clambered desperately towards the top. Something hooked her leg. It tugged once. Her claws were pulled from the wall. She shrieked and plunged back down. Carol tumbled through the air. She looked down to see Guang's fat face grinning at her. She landed on him, _directly_ on him. She sunk her claws into his face.

"KYAAAH!" she shrieked.

Guang roared with pain. He grabbed for Carol, but she leapt off. She barely managed to cling onto the wall again. Her mind was still partially stunned by what she'd just done. Guang regained his balance. With an angry yell, he swung out with his grappling hook. Carol yelped. She jumped away. The hook slammed into the stonework she'd been on seconds earlier. She leapt up the wall as quickly as she could, all while trying to visualise Guang preparing another swing.

 _Around his head and…_

Too late. Carol moaned with fear as her left shoulder was violently tugged away from the wall. She lost her grip with her right claw and tumbled towards the ground. She tried to right herself, but Guang tugged her round with a malevolent little tug of the rope. Carol spun round in the air.

 _Don't land on your head. Don't land on your…_

"Oooof…"

The air emptied from Carol's lungs as she landed squarely on her back. A hobnailed boot settled on her stomach. Carol looked up fearfully as Guang settled just enough weight on her to keep her fully pinned. He grinned darkly at her.

"What do you want?" Carol groaned defiantly. "I've not got any money."

"Who's with you?" Guang hissed.

The blood drained from Carol's face.

"No one." she lied.

She went bug-eyed as Guang began to draw a long knife. The sound of grating metal hurt her ears. He chuckled darkly. Guang had been violent before. His time on the streets had turned him positively psychopathic.

" _Spade!"_ she cried. "I'm with _Spade!_ If you don't let me go-"

Carol's panicked lie was cut off as Guang exerted pressure on her chest.

"I only have to shift over you a little more to break your sternum and leave you in Shang Tu General for weeks," Guang menaced, "Now Carol…" he lowered his voice in mock gentility, "…I know Spade's not your mentor. He's not got time for little brats who can't behave anymore. Tell me, who's _really_ with you?"

Carol whimpered. She felt like her chest was going to explode. Pretty soon it probably would. She gasped out the name of her mentor.

" _Ma… Lei…"_

Guang snarled.

"Wrong answer."

Carol panicked. She clawed desperately for his leg. She surprised herself and Guang. Guang cried out in pain as her claws sunk into his leg like knives. He pulled back. Carol wrenched her hands free in shock. She scrambled to her feet and tried to leap over the trash cans, but Guang recovered first. He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hurled her back into the alleyway. Carol rolled weakly onto her back. She looked up to see his knife rise.

Lilac appeared in the air behind Guang.

"HYAAH!"

She kicked Guang as hard as she could in his hand. Guang grunted. He released the knife, and it clattered to the ground. Lilac vaulted over his shoulder. She elbowed him hard in his stomach on the way down. As Guang lurched back, she wrenched Carol to her feet. She pushed her away.

 **"RUN!"**

Carol didn't need telling twice. She sprinted for the end of the alleyway. The world disappeared around her. She tore through the darkness in a panic. She banged her leg against a trash can painfully. She didn't care. She didn't stop running until she'd broken onto the unknown street on the other side. Carol screamed at the top of her lungs.

" _ **HELP! SOMEBODY-"**_

She froze. Lilac wasn't behind her. Carol twisted round. A furious, life-or-death struggle had broken out at the other end of the alleyway. Lilac had wrapped her legs solidly round Guang's neck. She'd somehow flipped herself up onto his head. Guang was trying to prise her off. He was winning. Carol quietly took a small cube out of her pyjama pocket. She carried one on her at all times. She looked hastily around at the street outside. She heard Guang cry out in pain. Lilac had clearly decided to go for his eyes. A car lay parked on the other side of the road, one of the new ones with a closed engine. She ran over to it. Lilac cried out in alarm. Carol felt a bolt of dread shoot through her as the sound reached her ears. A thump passed them moments later. Guang had thrown her off at last.

"You little _snitch._ " he menaced.

Carol broke open the trunk. The lock was flimsy, and she had no time for subtler methods. Worry about life, then the law. She looked around inside. The life-saving liquid was inside.

 _A spare fuel tank._

She could hear Lilac and Guang groaning as they exchanged blows behind her. She grabbed the tank and ripped off the top. Gasoline sprayed her pyjamas, but she didn't care. She heard Lilac yell in fury. Guang cried out in pain. Carol nearly fumbled the cube, her hands were shaking so badly. She shoved it inside the canister, dropped it, and stepped well back. The canister exploded. Carol covered her face. Sitting in front of her was a small motorcycle, its engine already started. Carol leapt onto the bike. Her eyes went wide with horror. In one smooth motion, Guang straightened up and punched Lilac squarely in the face. She crumpled to the ground. Guang advanced on her. She didn't get up. Carol hit the accelerator. She was nearly wrenched off as the bike lurched forward violently. She forced her centre of gravity down and gave the gas full throttle. The bike hurtled up the alleyway. She watched as Guang raised a foot that would crush Lilac's entire torso. She wouldn't make it in time! She flipped on her fog light. The light startled Guang, and he looked up. Carol hit a small switch on her motorcycle.

The bike leapt up into the air. Carol wasn't foolish enough to think she could land a move like that. Unlike Guang, she had a basic understanding of cause and effect. She let go of the bike and leapt up off the foot rests. The bike went soaring over Lilac's prone form. It missed her head by inches. The motorcycle bulled into Guang at over twenty miles per hour. Guang blocked it with his raised leg, but he still cried out in pain as the bike's light shattered and the jagged glass and metal forced its way into his shin. The back of the bike twisted round and slammed into the alley wall. Caught between Guang and an entire building, it got ripped apart at the middle as it tried futilely to pass between them both. A mess of oil, gasoline and brake fluid spray painted the street behind. By some miracle, the toxic mess missed the combatants. Carol jammed her claws into the wall to slow her down. As Guang fell to his one good knee, she dropped upon his head.

" _ **AAAAAAAH!"**_

" _ **URRRRRRGH!"**_

Carol wasn't scared anymore. She was _furious_. She jammed her claws into Guang's head as deeply as she could. Guang screamed. He grabbed her arms. Carol shrieked, but she bit into his left arm as hard as she could. Guang slung her off, but Carol rolled onto her feet a moment later. She turned around… and stopped. Carol gasped at the ugly cuts she'd left on his face. That was all the time Guang needed to recover. He gave her a truly dark look as he grabbed her by her jaw. Carol let out a muffled scream as he lifted her bodily into the air. She tried to claw at his arm, but he threw her violently down to the ground. Carol cried out in pain as she struck the dirt below. Only the unpaved surface saved her from a broken spine. Guang loomed over her. She trembled on the ground.

"I'm going to _murder_ you, Carol Tea. I'm going to murder your dragon friend next. I'm going to shove your bodies into a dumpster, and then I'm going to leave town. You're going to disappear, and your friends at the Scarves won't ever, ever-"

Lilac shut Guang up with the most violent uppercut Carol had ever seen in her life. She lifted her entire body up off the ground and swept up with her left tendril. Lilac was eleven and light for her age. Guang was five years older and weighed roughly the same as a small car. That didn't change the fact that Lilac had thrown her entire bodyweight behind a tiny strip of iron-hard material. That material transferred all that force directly into Guang's unprotected chin. Waves of kinetic energy rippled upwards through his neck, cheeks and brain. His head absorbed some of the force as it lurched back, but it could only give so far. There was a terrific crack. Guang's brain bounced around violently inside its casing. Carol watched as he keeled backwards and hit the ground with a sickening thud.

Lilac landed a moment later. She jerked round violently to face Guang. When she saw him lying there on the ground, she went dreadfully still. Carol hastily got to her feet.

"Is he dead?" She asked quietly.

Her voice wavered. Lilac began to tremble.

"Lilac, it was self-defence." Carol assured her.

"If I hadn't been so stupid…" Lilac muttered.

Her voice shook. She began to pace forward. Carol grabbed her arm.

"Are you _crazy?!_ " She squealed. "He could get up!"

"I have to check that he's alive." Lilac insisted angrily.

Carol miserably let her go. She clenched her hands together nervously as Lilac carefully approached Guang. She took his pulse and used her hand to check his breathing. In the moonlight, Carol could see an enormous bruise that covered the whole of her right cheek. Her dirty clothes were smeared in fresh mud. Carol looked down at herself. Her pyjamas were ruined. Lilac stood up. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"He's alive," she said, "Quickly, get the cloak."

Carol scrambled for it. As quickly as she could, she brought it over to Lilac. She draped it over Guang and stood up.

"We need to get help." Lilac said grimly.

"We need to get out of here!" Carol cried.

Both of them heard footsteps.

"The guards!" Carol cried, "Come on!"

Lilac stood rock still. She shook her head.

"Li-"

"Quiet!" she warned.

The same party of guards rounded the corner. They came to a frightened stop.

"What happened here?" One of them cried.

* * *

Lilac fed the guards a false story about Guang being attacked by a mugger. Carol elaborated. Guang had been stealing gasoline, and someone decided to snatch it off him. Thankfully no one noticed the blood on Carol's claws. Lilac could explain away her bruise by saying the mugger had elbowed her in the face as he escaped. A small switch in Carol's pocket took care of the broken bike. The guards told them to get lost, and they did so without hesitation. Lilac dragged Carol straight back to the hideout. She didn't say anything except that she would have to talk to Spade. Carol protested, but she gave in when Lilac pointed out Guang was a danger to all other Scarves. They couldn't hide what had happened. After they snuck back into the hideout, Lilac sent Carol straight to bed. Even though she was worried about losing her privileges, Carol rapidly fell asleep.

She was just glad to be alive.

When the morning came, Spade met her outside the girls' dorm. He quietly told her that she was banned from tournaments for a month. Carol couldn't believe her ears. That was a slap on the wrist compared to what she'd been expecting. She asked about Lilac. As always, Spade ducked the question. All he told her was that the issue had been settled. Life seemed to return to normal. Lilac hung out a little more often, but she never talked about what had passed between her and Spade that night. She never talked about her activities either. She continued to go out late at night, sometimes with Spade, sometimes with a group. Carol never again caught her sneaking out on her own late at night however, and she seemed to grow more brooding and more burdened with every passing day. A month after her twelfth birthday, she practically disappeared. Sightings of her by the younger Scarves became a discussion-worthy occurrence. One month on, Lilac would wake Carol up by the shoulders and drag her from the Scarves for the very last time.


	18. Call of the Dragon

…Call of the Dragon

Memories of Lilac filled Carol. As she flew through the air, she swung out with her right arm. Her razor sharp claws tore through the wyrm's thick, gel-like flesh. They lacerated the thing's heart, caught… and were ripped free with a yell.

"KYAAA!"

Carol spun around in the air as the wyrm crashed down into the ice below her. She fell towards the ground. Chunks as large as her fist struck her back and legs with enough force to leave deep, painful bruises, but her thick fur protected her from lacerations. Pain shot through her skull as she landed. She wobbled. She managed to keep her balance. Carol straightened up. Her mortally wounded foe plunge into the ground behind her. It vanished below the ice. She took a well-earned breath. Her body trembled with adrenaline. It was just about the only thing keeping her on her feet. She looked at her bloodied, trembling claw. She took a moment to thank the owner of the technique she'd used. It had just saved her life.

 _I did it. We won. Thank you Lilac. You saved my life again._

She cast about herself desperately. The carnage stunned her. Their jeep lay burning on the ice. Its steel frame had been completely mangled at the back, and the engine compartment had been completely crushed. Steam rose alongside the flames. The engine's cooling system had ruptured. The turret lay discarded on the ground nearby. Its barrel had been sundered. She stared in horror at the wounded. Neera lay on the ground some distance away. She didn't move a muscle. Carol didn't even know if she was breathing. Two soldiers lay nearby. Both were unconscious. Carol could see great dents in their armour even from here. She ran to Neera's side.

"Neera!"

She ran to her side. She was breathing at least. Carol felt a burst of relief. Blood trickled from her skull. Carol stared at the horrid injury. Panic rose in her in steady, mounting waves. She'd never been called upon to perform first aid. She only knew the basics.

"What do I do?" She whined, "I can't treat this! Lilac…"

 _Lilac would have known just what to do,_ she thought. _but she's not here…_

She shivered in the cold. She'd won the battle, but she couldn't _do_ anything to help! She watched as the wind buffeted the fur lining of Neera's parka. Even with it on, she wouldn't survive the cold forever. Carol began to lose control.

"Come on," she said, her voice trembling, " _Come on._ _ **Please!**_ Don't die because you were trying to help me! That's not what she would have wanted! That's not what **I** want!"

 _Why did you help? I wish I could still hate you. I wish things would just go back to how they were! I thought you hated us. I thought you weren't a good person! Why are you all_ _ **doing**_ _this? None of you cared about us a day ago._

She now wished they would stop caring. She began to tear up. All this carnage for them...

"I wish we hadn't met like this!"

She wiped her eyes.

"I want to help, but I don't know what to do! I don't know how to help you!"

She looked out over the fallen soldiers. One of them was missing.

"I don't know how to help _any of you."_ she whispered.

The ground shook beneath her knees. Carol trembled. She closed her eyes.

 _Oh come on…_

She heard the ground begin to split behind her. Carol shakily got to her feet.

 _It's dead. It's got to be dead! I killed-_

The ground opened up. Carol covered her face. She expected to get torn apart by broken ice. She wasn't. The wyrm lurched almost drunkenly out of its hole. It only slowly displaced the ice around it. It was dying. Carol saw that instantly. The gaping hole in its gelatinous flesh made that all too clear. It was clearly running out of strength to propel its massive body. It had enough strength to stretch towards Carol. She tried to back away. Her back foot hit Neera. The monster lunged. She closed her eyes.

 _I was so close…_

A terrifying bang woke her from her final moments. Torque's ship ripped through the wyrm's body. It tore the beast clear in two. Carol watched, dumbstruck. The wyrm's top half was pulled away from where she stood. It crashed into the ground and flopped down with a nauseating squelch. Torque began to pull up. Suddenly, his ship plunged into a steep dive. Carol watched in horror as it disappeared behind the wyrm's fallen body. It crashed into the ground.

Steam began to rise into the air. It took a few seconds for Carol's brain to start working again.

 _No…_

She began to shake. _This_ was the worst thing that could have happened. The last vestiges of Carol's calm faded away as Torque disappeared beneath the ice.

 _He came after me… Torque…_ _ **TORQUE…**_

Carol broke into a desperate run. She sprinted towards the downed ship. All other thoughts left her as she clambered up the fallen wyrm's corpse. She hurled herself down onto the ice.

 _Hold on!_

She came to a stop. Steam rose from the downed ship. It had half-buried itself in the ice. Only the top half of the cargo bay lay exposed to the air. The impact had split the hull in half. Steam billowed out of the ruptured metal. Carol scrambled towards it. She stopped abruptly as a klaxon started up.

" _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURED. EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. WARNING…"**_

Carol wavered in place for a second. Then she sprinted for the stricken vessel. Carol **did** stop to think that she was putting herself in terrible danger. She knew running into an exploding starship was a bad decision. She just didn't care. She _needed_ to save him. She'd never experienced such desperation in her life.

 _I_ _ **can't lose anyone else!**_

" _ **WARNING: CORE RUPTURED…"**_

She clambered up the sides of the ship. Her breaths came rapidly and unevenly, and every muscle in her body seemed to tremble in ways she couldn't control. They quivered with a sudden, desperate energy, a reserve that Carol had never used even through all her struggles so far. Gouts of steam shot out from places where the heating system had been compromised, but she hopped agilely around them. Her body seemed to become adrenaline.

"… _ **EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY. WARNING…"**_

She reached the entrance of the cargo bay. It was lit in an eerie red light. An orange glow swept across it like a scanner periodically. It bathed her in a harsh, blinding light. Steam filled the compartment. Carol braced herself.

"… _ **CORE UNSTABLE. EXPLOSION…"**_

 _I have to avoid the densest pockets! Come on…_

The walls were the most dangerous places. Carol hesitated. She squinted through the steam.

" _ **...IMMINENT. LEAVE AT…"**_

She dropped into the darkened bay. Unbearably hot water brought her skin to a boil as it sunk into her clothes and fur. She had to close her eyes. They would have been burned out of her skull otherwise. A gout of steam scalded her tail. She cried out in pain as she hit the steel door to the cockpit.

"… _ **ONCE. DANGER: CORE UNSTABLE…"**_

She picked herself up onto her hands and knees. Carol banged against the door switch. It didn't respond.

"… **LEAVE AT ONCE…"** the ship demanded.

"Shut. Up." Carol hissed. "Let… him… go!"

She was sweating profusely. The steam smothered her like a layer of clingfilm. She found it harder and harder to breathe. She tried to push her hands underneath the door. It was impossible. The lights went out. She was left in darkness.

"Darn it! Come… COME ON! GIVE ME _SOMETHING!_ "she screamed, half gasping for air.

She dug her claws into the metal of the door. Carol pushed against the floor of the cargo bay with her feet. Desperate strength filled her arms. She rapidly forced the heavy cabin door to open. The klaxon stopped. The warning voice went eerily silent. The door suddenly shot open as Carol's resistance overcame its weight. She lost her grip.

"YEEEAAAGH!"

She plunged into the gloom. Carol hit the control panel with a thud. A gout of steam blasted over her ears. She cried out with pain and pushed herself off the controls. Her night vision kicked in. The world around her became bathed in dark and frightening contrasts. It was nothing like the forest. This was a place of dreadful, deadly danger. Lighter patches barely showed up at all in the gloom. It was so dark here, even she was nearly blinded. Lethal bursts of steam lit up faintly all around her. They hinted menacingly of further agonies. Carol tried to block out the blinding pain from her scalded ears and tail.

Her resolve began to waver. She looked around herself in fear. She searched desperately for Torque. She saw him! He lay limp in the cockpit chair. Carol shook off her badly bruised chest, pain which only added to her splitting headache and battered back and legs. She tried to pull him out. He came away a small distance. Then, he rebounded.

 _What's keeping him in his seat?!_

She saw it. Torque was strapped into the cockpit by not one but four seatbelts. They had possibly saved him from the crash, but now they posed a mortal threat to his life. Carol tried to hit the release, but the impact from the crash had smashed the mechanism. She resorted to cutting Torque manually out of the seat. One belt came away in her claws, then a second. A third came loose. Carol began to cut the fourth.

A gout of steam nearly took her arm off as Torque came away. She only survived because he landed on top of her. The sudden weight forced her to the floor. Torque's body heat combined with the steam inside the room to create unbearable temperatures. Carol pushed him off with a gasp. She lay there hyperventilating for a few seconds. The warmth alone nearly made her pass out. She groggily picked herself up. Carol remained on her knees as she pulled Torque onto her shoulders. To her relief, he was surprisingly light. She could barely breathe it was so hot. She peered up into the gloom above.

It hit her.

 _I can't climb out!_

She despaired. She couldn't climb out with Torque. Carol let him slump onto the ground. She went limp, slumping over against the wall of the control panel.

 _I'm dying then. I'm not leaving without Torque! Wait…_

She remembered the seatbelt! Carol shot up. She picked up the mangled remains. Her mechanically apt mind overcame its destructive, despairing impulses. It went into overdrive. She moved as fast as she could. That was _fast._ Carol strapped Torque's limbs onto the back of her own, tying crude but effective knots in seconds. She completed the unfamiliar procedure faster than anyone would have thought possible on their first try. Torque weighed heavily on her, but she could bear it. She wiped her brow and looked up into the gloom. She clambered onto the wall. The strain rapidly exhausted her. Carol had to hoist both her own weight and Torque's up the wall with every jump. The steam bathed her constantly. It left her clothes drenched in water and her fur in her own sweat. She clambered through the door. Lack of breath left her dizzy and exhausted. The walls were death traps, but she had no other way. She bravely fought her way through the steam.

She screamed a quarter of the way up. A scalding spray burned the last two fingers of her right hand. Carol bit her lip. She kept going. Her side was scalded as she reached the half-way mark. Carol swung away. She almost lost her balance. She shook violently on the wall. Carol blocked out the frightening signals she was receiving from all over her body. She forced herself to look upwards. She desperately swung a paw out above her. The last vestiges of her strength went into completing that last terrible stretch of the climb. She reached towards the end of the cargo bay. It was within arm's reach now…

A blast of steam burst through the walls. It scorched Carol's exposed legs. She screamed…

…and blacked out. Carol let go. She fell. Someone grabbed her arm. It jerked violently as her entire weight and Torque's fell upon it. She couldn't see. She whimpered with pain. Her head fell. Her eyes rolled lazily open. She stared into the violent hell below. She retained just enough consciousness to realise that she _didn't want to go down there again._ She opened her mouth and sucked in as much air as she could.

" _GET US OUT OF HERE!"_

She screamed at the top of her exhausted lungs. Her voice box burned with the effort. Whoever her saviour was, they reacted quickly. Carol felt a powerful tug pull herself and Torque skyward to safety. She was hauled over the side… and then dropped like a sack of potatoes. She yelped. She didn't want to break her spine after everything that had happened. Pressure forced her upright just before she hit the ground. Someone rolled over with her as they hit. Carol cried out as her face was pressed painfully into the ice.

She came to a halt. She felt too weak to move. The stranger tried to shake her shoulders. Carol didn't respond. The shock of the cold against her burned skin revived her a little, but she was too stunned and weak to move. The stranger grabbed both her and Torque under the arms. Carol's vision blurred. Nausea assaulted her as the ship's frame danced in her vision. Her eyes fluttered open and closed. She had no control over them. The ship got further and further away as she was dragged away across the ice.

 _I never want to see a ship again._ she thought dully.

Her ears, legs and left-hand side were agony. She could barely feel her head wound anymore. Something trickled down her face. Her chest and back ached so deeply the sensation drained what little energy she had. Her eyes fell closed more frequently and for longer periods of time…

A colossal explosion ripped her out of her daze. Carol's eyes went wide, then shut fast for protection as the ship erupted into a fireball. The shockwave knocked her carrier prone. She landed on top of him in a heap. Pieces of deadly shrapnel whistled over her head. Her eyes shut fast out of instinct. She didn't even have the strength to tremble. Carol was utterly spent, but her mind could still feel terror. It knew she was a sitting duck.

 _Stop… just stop! Please… let it stop. Let us rest! Haven't we suffered enough?_

Finally, it stopped. Quiet settled. A few stray pieces of metal clanged as they dropped down onto the ice. The world finally stopped spinning madly round. Carol lay there undisturbed for a few seconds. She felt someone squirm out from under her and Torque. Whoever it was, they made short work of the knots that bound her to him. Something square yet sharp ripped the elastic straps apart in moments. Carol had no opinion on that. A tiny hint of relief filtered through to her conscious brain from the fact she was no longer shackled to Torque. Again, she was lifted by the arms. Carol felt herself being dragged off. Her mysterious saviour lay her down upon the icy ground. They lifted her head up. She heard something being swept under it. The stranger lowered her head. It came to rest upon a pillow of powdered ice and snow. Carol faded away...

…she woke to the unpleasant feeling of someone rifling through her pockets.

" _Come on… you always carry at least one of those things around…"_

She recognised that voice. Carol felt drowsy. Her body had gone into full damage control. She could no longer feel one single point of pain. It all sort of blended together. She could feel something running down her forehead. It felt too thick to be sweat. It took all her effort just to open her eyes.

"Mmhmm… … … … …"

"…"

"… _Spade?!"_


	19. Spade

Spade

Spade froze. The red scarf around his neck continued to billow in the wind. He pulled his hand out of her pocket. Carol didn't miss the little grey cube he palmed. He stood up.

"What are you doing?" She muttered in a daze. "That's…"

He ignored her. Carol watched as he wandered out of her vision. She forced herself to sit up.

" _aahhh!"_ she gasped.

She felt like a cheese grater had been rubbed over her legs, ears and stomach. She'd never been in so much pain. Her flesh felt raw and swollen, and it burned against the snow. She closed her eyes and tried to block out waves of nausea. She could feel her legs stick to the ice below. When she opened her eyes again, she instinctively looked down. She stared in shock. Most of her leg fur had fallen out. The skin underneath was a dark, angry red.

 _Oh jeez…_

She struggled to control her breathing. She didn't feel well, and the sight of her bare, swollen skin deeply frightened her. Spade didn't look up from what he was doing. He'd crouched down beside someone. Carol shut her eyes. She tried to force herself to calm down. She was succeeding until she remembered who she'd pulled out of the spacecraft.

 _TORQUE!_

"Is he ok?!" she gasped.

Spade looked round for a half second. He quickly returned his attention to Torque. Carol breathed rapidly. Her panic turned to dread as she looked on.

"He's not breathing." Spade confirmed.

A merciful half-second passed before that message sunk in. Carol shivered.

"What are we going to do?" She whined, her voice breaking, "I can't just let him die… he saved my life twice. I don't… I don't know what to do."

Spade hesitated.

"You're injured," he said, "I suggest you lie down for this."

His voice was unnaturally steady. Carol recognised that voice. Lilac sounded the same when she was trying hard not to panic. She shook her head. Spade sighed. He held up Carol's bike crystal.

"I don't understand. How will that-"

Carol didn't get to say anymore. Spade slammed the cube violently into Torque's chest. He grunted as a wave of electricity ran up his arm. Torque twitched violently on the ground. Carol went still with shock. The only stress response she could manage was a bit of bile in the back of her throat. Torque came to rest. Spade shook his own arm, growling. Nothing happened. Carol felt sick. Despair began to eat away at her as the seconds passed by. Her arms began to shake as they struggled to prop her up.

 _It didn't work. He's dead!_

Spade took Torque's pulse.

"His heart's beating."

Carol breathed a sigh of pure, happy relief as Torque began to breathe again. She felt an urge to sink down to the ground. She didn't. Going prone meant giving up. She watched his chest rise up and down. It was the most beautiful sight in the world to her.

"Thank you…" she said quietly.

They both stared down at Torque for a few seconds. Spade got up. He loomed over her, his arms folded. Carol suddenly felt afraid. She couldn't fight back like this.

"Am I a prisoner?" She asked sullenly.

She glared up at Spade. He raised his eyebrows.

"That depends. Are you going to lie down like a good little girl, or am I going to have to drag you back to Shuigang?"

 _Shuigang?_

Carol's eyes narrowed.

"Why Shuigang?" She asked suspiciously.

Spade gestured up above the battlefield. Carol gasped. Dail, the mad prince of Shuigang, sat upon the back of a gigantic metal bird. The sight instinctively frightened Carol. She'd been attacked by this thing just two days previously. Its tail held nine great steel feathers, each graced with a deep blue orb. Each glowed with the energy of the Kingdom Stone, yet this thing had hardly been a guardian for the past three days. It's two great wings slowly lifted the prince up into the air. Dail had a passenger. A jolt of fear coursed through Carol when she saw who it was. Neera lay slumped against the prince's back, quite helpless.

"He's… he's definitely on our side, right?" Carol asked nervously.

Spade fell silent. Carol looked up at him nervously. She couldn't keep the urgency out of her voice.

"Spade… he's definitely back to normal. He's not going to experiment on her or anything like that?"

"He was sane enough when Shang Tu's messengers reached us," Spade replied, "That's how he knew to search. You're just going to have to trust him."

He watched his brother fly away, an impassive expression on his face. Carol couldn't tell what he was thinking.

 _At least she's probably getting out of this alive,_ she thought quietly, _but what about the other soldiers? Is there more help on the way?_

Spade remained silent as he watched Dail fly over the horizon. He turned to Carol. It scared her how unclear his emotions were. Spade was neither calm nor angry. He seemed somewhere in between. She even thought she saw a hint of emotion, but she couldn't know that. He stared down at her.

 _He's not going to let me go._

He surprised her when he spoke.

"You're a mess." he said quietly.

Carol looked down at her cooked legs. She could see white blisters forming under the burnt skin. They didn't nauseate her like they should have.

 _It's just pain. Lilac was worse._

"It's not that bad," she insisted quickly, "I need to get after Lilac."

Spade's expression hardened at her determination.

"That's a cracked skull," he warned, "I'm amazed you're still conscious."

"It happened before I entered the ship," Carol snapped back, "If it was that serious, I'd be lying somewhere on the ice over there. I think the petal essence healed most of it anyway."

Spade was silent.

"Those blisters could become infected," he said quietly, "If they do, amputation will be the least of your concerns."

"Why do you care anyway?" Carol snarled.

"I don't," Spade replied curtly, "My brother is paying me to help with the search. Apparently, he feels like he owes your little group a favour. If you die, I don't get paid."

That hurt Carol more than she expected. She looked away. Spade continued.

"This isn't personal, Carol. I've been ordered to bring you back to Shuigang, whether you want to come or not. I was warned you might not cooperate. You're staying here until help arrives."

Carol was silent.

 _I can't fight him…_

She fought to keep her voice steady.

"Spade, my friends are in danger. I need to find them quickly."

Spade looked away. He clearly didn't want to have this conversation. Carol pressed the point.

"If they die while you wait, you don't get paid, right? So why don't we search for them together?"

She poured as much persuasion into her words as she could. Spade didn't budge.

"You can't even stand, and I have to watch the idiot," he said, gesturing to Torque, "If we meet anything out there, I can't defend you both. We're staying near this landmark. I'm not getting killed for a bit of extra pay, and I'm certainly not going for Lilac's ego."

Carol bristled with frustration.

"You know, you used to be like a brother to her," she said angrily, "She hung on your every word. Now she's in trouble. Doesn't mean _anything_ to you?"

She spoke genuinely, but it was calculated for effect. Spade shifted a bit. He didn't speak for some time.

"That was a long time ago." he said eventually.

"You saved her life. Before she joined the Scarves. I know that much." Carol said quietly, "She never forgot that."

Spade's head jerked round for a moment. He suddenly looked intensely angry. He looked away again.

"I don't care what Lilac remembers, Carol," he snarled, "She's dead to me, and so are you."

The sheer vitriol in his words stunned her for a second… but their real meaning sunk through.

 _He doesn't mean that._

She took a deep breath. Carol mimicked Torque's calm, analytical tone. It seemed just right to get under his skin.

"You know, for someone who doesn't care you're getting awfully animated," she observed, "She must have really ticked you off."

Spade visibly shook. He seemed to lose control for a second. He suddenly settled. Frustration coursed through Carol.

 _Darn it, I had him!_

Then, he spoke. His voice was very quiet.

"Maybe I do care, but that doesn't change anything. You're hurt, and your friend here is unconscious. I can't carry you both, so we're stuck here. Now stay where you are."

He fell silent. A terrible finality fell across the ice. Carol stared. She remembered Lilac's voice before they boarded the dreadnought.

* * *

" _Spade!_

" _I hate to disappoint you, but I'm just passing through. Have fun saving the world."_

" _Look, I'm sorry ok?! I was scared! I didn't know what I was doing!"_

" _You still don't."_

* * *

Spade's last "You still don't" had been the closest Carol had ever heard him come to real emotion since they'd left the hideout. He almost sounded regretful. She made one final gambit. She began to get up. Her body immediately complained. Carol groaned as her burned flesh pulled away from the ice. It felt like unzipping Velcro. Spade turned around. His eyes went wide.

"Stay down." he warned.

Carol ignored her. She cried out as bits of her skin were left upon the ice. Her legs came free. She pulled them towards her. She waited there for a moment, grimacing and whimpering. Spade watched silently as she forced her legs back under her. She began to rise.

"AAAGH!"

She cried out as her left leg gave out from under her. It had been more badly burnt by the steam. She fell down onto her knee. She grimaced as her skin stuck to the ice again. Spade looked on in shock.

"Carol…"

Carol ignored his warning. She knew his heart wasn't in it. She braced her good leg. Then, she tore herself away from the ice in one vicious movement. Her pain reached a crescendo and she cried out, but it subsided. Carol was left with a throbbing, sickening, but manageable pain. She didn't put too much weight on her leg. She rose, lifted her head and stared at Spade. He looked stunned. Neither of them spoke for a moment.

"Remember what you said to Lilac? When she said she didn't know what she was doing? 'You still don't.' Well you know what?"

Spade stared back in silence. Carol pressed on… quietly.

"You were right. Everything went wrong. Torque's plan didn't work. Brevon got away with the stone. Milla…" Carol hesitated. She looked away, "…I don't want to talk about Milla. And we had to…"

She forced herself to look Spade in the eyes.

"…we had to fight that maniac ourselves, and we weren't ready at all! I nearly got killed when one of Brevon's machines exploded, and after that…"

She hesitated.

"…Lilac had to fight him on her own. I _still don't know_ how she managed that. We barely got away with our lives, but _you know what?_ "

Her eyes glimmered, but she straightened up and held her head as high as she could.

"If we hadn't tried? If we hadn't gone in because we weren't prepared, because we _knew_ we weren't prepared?" She pointed up at the lights in the sky. " _That_ wouldn't be up there!" she cried, "Would that have been any better?"

She fell silent. Spade's expression had visibly softened. He looked tired… even upset.

"Did you get the freak?" He asked suddenly.

Carol's face subsided with weariness.

"No," she said, "we didn't. And that's frightened me every hour since, because we know he could come back. I don't know what we're going to do if he does."

The weight of Brevon's anger hung in the air between them. Spade's face truly fell.

"It's a shame," he said quietly, "You would have been one of the best."

Carol stared back. Her expression didn't waver, save for a slight glimmer in her eyes.

"It's a bit late for that, Spade." she said quietly.

They reached an impasse. Spade broke the silence.

"What are we going to do about him?"

He gestured down to Torque. Carol stared at him.

 _I've known you for three days, and yet you're one of my best friends. I owe you my life twice... and I've given you nothing but trouble since._

She wavered. Spade sighed.

"I'll carry him." he said.

"No, you won't." Carol replied.

Spade stopped mid-crouch. He straightened up. He stared warily at Carol. She stooped with exhaustion and pain, yet her eyes almost burned with determination.

"You need to stay here and look after him," she said, "I'm not leading him into danger again. I'm sick of people freezing and getting hurt trying to help us. I'm going north alone. This ice field has to end, and then I'm gonna find my friends. And if I don't…"

She hesitated.

"Your brother will just have to come and pick me up. It can't be that much further, right?"

 _I don't know how much further it is._ she realised.

Spade closed his eyes.

"You're acting just like her, you know that?" He said quietly, "Running off straight into trouble without a plan. It'll end the same, and no one is going to bail you out when it does."

"You're wrong," Carol stated, "I have a plan. The search parties are coming up here anyway, and I can't do anything about that. They're going to search for them anyway. It doesn't make a difference whether I go first or not. As long as I find shelter, I'll be fine."

Spade's expression hardened.

"And if you don't?" He warned.

Carol didn't answer him for a very long time.

"I have to do something." she said eventually.

Spade looked down. He put his hands on his hip. Something in Carol's words seemed to resonate with him… almost as if he was remembering something. He eventually met her eyes. After some time, he took a watch out of his pocket. He threw it over to her. She was so surprised, she barely caught it.

"Keep an eye on time," he said. "If you're out there for more than an hour, come straight back here. Follow your tracks, and if the weather changes…"

He hesitated. Carol knew fine well that there was no answer to that. She shivered. A cold gust of wind blew threateningly through her ragged clothes.

"I think I'd better hope the weather doesn't change." she finished quietly.

She turned to leave. As she did so, she chafed her burned legs. She had to test her left one. It complained the moment she leaned on it. She hissed… and walked on. Carol forced her injured leg to take one step, and then two. Two became several, and then, she broke into a run. Before long, she was hurtling into the north again.

Alone.

* * *

Spade watched her go in silence. He did not move until she had disappeared over the horizon.

"…"

He took a seat on the ice beside Torque and began an anxious vigil. During that vigil, he had plenty of time to look at the sky. He stared up at the blaze of light above him, a blaze of light that Carol had made possible.

It gave him a lot to think about.


	20. Empty Skies

Empty Skies

Carol ran.

Five minutes passed. Her damaged legs screamed at her to stop. She refused. The wind tore into her, but she pushed through it. Pure determination drove her on through the freezing temperatures. Her body warmed rapidly as heat flowed out from her heart to her limbs. The very essence of life pulsed through her. A sea of ice stretched out in front of her, but it would not beat her down. It would end.

Fifteen minutes passed. Carol's legs still hurt, but it was a duller, more familiar pain. It was a far worse pain. She hadn't slept in thirty-six hours. A heavy, dragging sensation crept up through her pelvis and began to invade her torso. Her arms felt dull and heavy. Still she pursued the endless, icy horizon. It had to end.

Thirty minutes went by. Carol felt sick. She'd warmed up thoroughly by now, but she didn't feel well. Her body couldn't seem to generate enough energy to keep her tired legs going. Instead, a horrible, nauseating pressure in her chest demanded she stop. The stinging in her ears went away. She couldn't feel pain there anymore. That frightened her. The wind felt like it was slowly filing the sensitive tissue down. She couldn't feel her fingers or toes. Her feet had pins and needles. Still, she ran on. The ice continued. Would it end?

Forty-five minutes were now gone. Carol began to slow down. Her run became a weaker, loping jog. She moved at a mere fraction of her normal speed. Fear rather than hope drove her on. She had no real reason to believe the ice would end anytime soon. The cold crept up her arms. It smothered her face. She broke desperately into one last sprint, a last futile attempt to keep her body warm. How far north had she come? Was she near the Pole? Had she passed it? Even if she crossed the ice, could anything even grow in such bitter conditions? Her hope slowly melted to despair.

Maybe, just maybe, she would see her friends again. She didn't really believe in stuff like that. Death was death on Avalice. Some people thought there might be some other world after you died. Some even theorised about what it might be like. It seemed like wishful thinking to Carol. She saw no reason to believe the world would suddenly get kinder once she was dead. Sixty minutes passed.

Spade's alarm went off. Carol ground to a wretched, broken halt. She folded her arms over her chest to shield herself from the freezing wind. Her exhausted legs gave out from under her before she completed the gesture. She collapsed onto the ice. A layer of snow enveloped her frozen fingers. She desperately spread it away for warmth. As she exposed the ice below, she came face to face with herself for the first time in days. She shivered as she stared at her reflection.

An exhausted young woman lay on the other side of the ice. The weight of four days of physical and emotional excess could be seen in her miserable expression. Her clothes were filthy, stiff with ice, blood and three days of her own sweat. Her bedraggled fur looked disgusting, yet more disturbing was the sight of her own bare skin. The fur had dropped out of her ears. The flesh underneath was an angry, threatening red. It painted a frightening, alienating picture of what she'd been through.

 _It's still me._ she thought.

Carol tried to force herself back to her feet. This time, she couldn't. Her arms collapsed. She slumped against the freezing ice. She closed her eyes for a few seconds. Sleep seemed to call to her.

 _Would it be so bad to stop for a moment?_

It struck her that she was about to die. A jolt ran through her. She forced her eyes open again and forced herself up onto her elbows. She looked out across the ice. The endless, featureless plains mocked her. Was there any point in continuing? She could meet a comfortable end here if she just went to sleep. There were still no features or landmarks she could follow, just endless, bleak plains of snow, and ice, and…

…little tracks in the snow.

Carol's eyelids pushed themselves open. She recognised those paws. Her exhausted mind released one last, tiny burst of adrenaline as a single name passed through her head.

… _Milla!_

She forced herself to get up. As the adrenaline pulsed through her veins, her muscles released what little ATP they still clung onto. This was the last hurrah. Her system threw everything it had into getting her to safety. She began to stumble blindly after the tracks, breaking into a broken, limping run. She couldn't feel her left leg anymore, so she dragged it behind. Fog closed over her mind. A desperate feeling of hope and happiness broke over her as she forced herself on.

 _I've found them,_ she thought, _I've found them. I'm coming Lilac! I'm coming Milla! Just hold on. We'll be together again soon!_

The tracks went on. That last precious burst of adrenaline ran out all too soon. Her jog became a pathetic limp. All too soon, she ground to a halt. She wavered on her feet.

 _Come on…_

The tracks wound on and on.

 _It's not fair…_

She blinked. For a moment, they seemed to disappear. She blinked again. They returned. Confusion and doubt swirled in her mind as she began to question her own sight.

 _Are they really here? Am I seeing things?_

She couldn't think. She tried to stumble forward. She fell to one knee instead. A horrible sense of bitterness settled over her as she tried to think.

"Darn it…" she moaned, "Why didn't I _listen to Spade?!_ It's not fair… _they_ made it."

 _Why am I so weak? What did I train for? Was Lilac just older? What did I do wrong?_

Her frustration gave way to misery and hopelessness as the tracks wound on. She couldn't feel her left foot anymore. It felt like a lead weight. She struggled to lift her head. Nothing but blue sky filled the horizon. It almost seemed inviting… but it wasn't for her. Nothing was. The same horrible, bitter feeling of rejection drifted over Carol as she shuffled forward.

"They're waiting for me," she pleaded with herself, " _I don't want to die!_ Come on…"

She scraped her knee.

"Just GIVE ME SOMETHING!" she cried, "Give me _some luck!_ _ **Can I just be lucky for**_ _ **once in my life?! DOES EVERYTHING HAVE TO BE A FIGHT?!"**_

No answer came but the howl of the wind. Carol began to sob.

"I wish I'd never bothered," she whispered bitterly, "I wish I'd stayed at home. _I didn't ask to be part of this!_ "

She looked out over the empty horizon and listened to the wind's howl. If she listened very closely, she could almost hear her friend. So she imagined.

 _Wait…_

She saw something slowly rising on the wind. It was grey and dreary next to the bright blue sky. The bright sun almost hid it. It was the most wonderful and frustrating thing she'd ever seen. Wisps of smoke rose from a fire far ahead. She went very, very still. The wind sank through to her bones.

 _I have to._

She forced herself back onto her right leg. Carol stumbled as she dragged her useless left leg forward. She hobbled slowly towards the smoke. The wind stalked her every step of the way. It circled around her like a predator, waiting for her to collapse. She didn't dare stop. She limped on like a wounded animal. No one would rescue her this time. She forced her way forward.

 _I have to see them again._

She continued on like that for what felt like forever. Slowly, the smoke became more distinct. Trees began to rise into the sky, but they were still so far away. The finish line was both agonisingly close and hopelessly far away. Carol felt like hope itself was mocking her now. To her surprise, she found herself mocking it back.

 _You can't stop me now._ she taunted.

After twenty minutes, she reached the edge of the woods. She could smell the smoke now. For the first time in days, an undiluted sense of triumph broke over her. She called out.

"Lilac?"

No response. Maybe she couldn't hear. Carol called out again.

"Lilac! Lilac!"

She could see a clearing ahead. The flicker of orange flame danced invitingly ahead. Her heart leapt, and a tear slid down her frozen cheek. Carol shook from warm, happy delight. She called out cheerfully to the clearing.

"Lilac! LILAC!"

She broke the treeline.

 _No…_

Milla sat beside the fire alone. She stared into the flames. She didn't look at Carol, though she had to have heard her shouting. Her eyes seemed empty and lifeless. The misery and the pain on her face tore Carol's heart out of her ribcage. She huddled by the fire with her knees drawn up by her chest. Milla was not what made Carol despair however. The young soldier who sat just a few feet away from her knocked her spirit from her body.

It didn't matter who he was. He wasn't Lilac. That was all that Carol cared about. Her worst nightmare had finally and irreversibly come true. The scales fell from her eyes.

 _She didn't make it._

She'd known. Part of her had known. She'd only seen Milla's tracks after all. Carol stood dully in place as her life energy escaped into the forest floor. All her hopes and dreams for the future, everything she'd forced herself to become… it all shattered in a moment. All the pain and despair of the past six hours came home to dance maliciously through her mind. She sank to her knees… and then collapsed forward onto the ground. She lay on her front, unmoving.

"Hey!"

She heard the soldier coming towards her. He grabbed her shoulders and gave them a shake.

"Hey, are you alright?"

She didn't dignify him with a response.

 _No._ she thought blackly.

She felt like she would never be happy again. The soldier muttered something about her injuries. He began to pull her over towards the fire. Carol didn't care. He could have thrown her onto the fire if he wanted to. She went completely limp. She allowed him to flip her onto her side like a corpse.

"Hey… come on. You're safe now." he told her.

 _I don't care._

Carol said nothing. The soldier stared at her in pity for a while. Then, he left her to stare into the flickering, dancing flames. It seemed to symbolise her life. Everything she cared about was going up in smoke. She found didn't resent Lilac as much as she thought she might. She wasn't invincible. That was such an old lesson by now. Lilac hadn't always come through in the past. Carol had always managed to work to meet her half way. No matter how reckless Lilac was, Carol could always bail her out. Things had always come right in the end. This time, they hadn't. It only had to happen once. She felt completely powerless.

 _We all did the right thing._ she thought weakly. _We did everything we could. Everything we were supposed to do!_

Except that wasn't true. Someone hadn't pulled their weight. A wave of pure hatred surged through Carol. As the heat began to revive her frozen tissue, she sat up. She directed her anger and frustration towards the only person she had left to target. Milla sat quietly by the fire. She didn't even seem to know Carol was there. There was a malevolent little part of Carol that hated that. She hated being ignored. It had eaten away at her ever since Lilac had locked eyes on Milla. She'd kept it caged for the past three days. Now, with her resistance broken, it burst forth. Lilac had always had time for Milla. Sometimes, it felt like she cared about her more than she cared about Carol herself.

 _What's wrong with you?_

She got to her feet. Carol began to stalk towards the helpless child in front of her. Every step deepened her bitter, seething hatred.

 _It's your fault…_

She took a step.

 _You're the one who started this._

She rounded the fire. The solder began to sit up in alarm.

 _I hate you._

She loomed over Milla.

 _Everything was fine before you showed up!_

She felt the weight of her claws.

 _ **I HATE YOU.**_

Milla reacted. She stared at Carol like a deer in the headlights. Her eyes shone. Carol had never seen someone so miserable and pathetic. When Milla saw the rage on Carol's face, she sunk down low. A broken whimper escaped her lips. She hung her head and began to shake. She made no moves to defend herself. She seemed ready to accept whatever judgement Carol had for her. Carol clenched her left fist. She reached down…

…and pulled Milla into a hug. Milla gasped.

"It's _not. Your. Fault."_

They both shook. Every word out of Carol's mouth trembled with impotent rage and venom, yet she latched around Milla like she was the most precious thing in the world. For Carol, she was the only thing in the world.

" _You're all I have left,"_ Carol whispered, " _It's NOT your fault…"_

Milla trembled in her arms. She didn't say anything. Carol's anxiety burst.

"Can't you _say_ something? _"_ She pleaded.

Milla tried. She murmured for a second. Nothing came. Carol clenched her tightly.

" _Milla!"_ she gasped. She burst into tears, "You didn't do anything wrong _!_ "

She released her grip slightly.

"Just say something…" she pleaded.

She released Milla and held her by the shoulders. Milla looked away. She couldn't meet Carol's eyes. Waves of shame and regret rolled off her. Carol looked down at the ground. She rested her head against Milla's. She needed to. She needed to make some kind of connection with the broken shadow she held in her arms. Milla said nothing. She didn't even move. Carol let out a long, despairing sigh. She pulled her close and rested a hand against the back of her neck. Lilac had done the same for her back in the forest. It was the only gesture she could think of.

"It's ok," she whispered, "I'll look after you, alright? I'm not gonna leave you alone again. I won't let anyone hurt you, and if we're ever in trouble like this again…"

She hesitated. Suddenly, she pushed Milla away. She reached down and gripped her hands as tightly as she could.

"…I'll keep you safe. I promise. Just don't leave me alone."

Milla shifted slightly. She turned her head and looked down and away. Carol took her by the cheeks. She lifted her head.

"Milla… it _wasn't your…"_

The sight of Milla's face cut her off. She'd gotten through. Milla's eyes shone, Tears cascaded from her eyes. Her lips had curled round. Suddenly, and without warning, she buried herself in Carol's shoulder. Carol went still. The gesture stunned her. She weakly returned it.

"Ok." she whispered, "We'll… see where we go from here."

Her voice was almost lost to the wind.

* * *

It was a long, miserable wait for rescue. Carol sat huddled by the fire. She kept one arm around Milla at all times. Sometimes, Milla rested her head on Carol's shoulder. Sometimes, it was the other way round. Neither of them spoke. Occasionally, the strange soldier would go and get more wood for the fire. He said his name was Fai. He seemed decent enough, but Carol noticed the rope on the ground. She eyed the blood on his armour nervously. She kept as far away from him as she could. Fai kept himself to himself. He seemed to sense her caution. He looked over at them in concern from time to time, but he never took action. There was a haunted look in his eyes. He looked at Milla guiltily. That didn't move him any closer to Carol, and she eyed him suspiciously every time he glanced. The minutes became hours, and the hours dragged on. Soon, it was time to go to sleep.

Carol had plenty of time to think during that time. From time to time, she thought about leaving. She thought about going back out onto the ice to search for her friend. For the last three years, Lilac had been her only friend. More than that, she'd been like an older sister… even like a parent at times.

 _She kept me straight,_ Carol realised. _I followed the example she gave me. If she hadn't been in my life… I'd probably have turned out like Spade. In or out of the Scarves…_

She could feel Milla beside her. It was enough for her to realise she couldn't go. She could risk her own life searching for Lilac, but Milla needed her here. Her life wasn't hers to throw away anymore.

 _It's funny. I'm the same age Lilac was when she ran away with me. Is this going to be the same?_

She curled up despondently.

 _Am I going to end up the same way?_

Lilac's last terrified cry passed through her mind. She sank down into a black depression. As night fell, Fai shifted.

"It's dangerous here," he explained gently, "and it'll only get more dangerous at night. I'll keep watch. You two had better get some sleep."

"I can do it!" Carol piped up.

Fai stared at her, visibly surprised. Milla looked round anxiously at Carol, but Carol kept her attention on Fai. She sometimes had to remember she was twelve. It took some adults by surprise.

 _I don't trust you._ she thought.

Fai sighed.

"I take it you want first watch?" He asked.

Carol nodded.

"Ok," Fai said reluctantly. He looked away for a second, "Stay away from the edge of the clearing. If you get too tired, wake me up."

Carol remained silent. She smiled nervously. Fai didn't return it. He opened up a bag and pulled out a blanket.

"Here. Take this." he said.

He threw it over to Carol. She looked at it in surprise.

"But what about-" she began.

Fai shrugged.

"You have it. You still look cold."

With that, he curled up beside the fire.

"You can keep the fire going, but don't go looking for more wood if it goes out. If either of you get too uncomfortable, wake me. Don't wait until you're actually cold."

With that, he rolled over and went to sleep. Carol was left holding the blanket in one hand and Milla in the other. She noticed a second blanket nearby. Milla had dropped it earlier. Carol didn't know what to say. Was she supposed to say anything? Bemused, she turned to Milla.

"Are you ready to go to sleep?" She whispered.

Milla was silent. Carol sighed in frustration.

"I wish I could understand." she said.

Milla shook her head slightly. A light sob escaped her lips. Carol held her close. She gave her a bit of a shake.

"It's alright," She muttered, "Speak when you're ready, ok?"

Milla was silent. She didn't seem to feel any better. Carol's spirits sunk. She despondently rested her head on her friend's shoulders.

* * *

Milla fell asleep in Carol's arms. It fell to the older girl to ensure she was comfortable for the night. Carol draped a blanket over her shoulders and made sure it covered her properly. She even tucked it around her to make sure it wouldn't get blown away. She added a bit more wood to the fire. She had to cover her face when it sparked. She stared into it.

"I guess I'm the oldest now." she whispered to herself despondently.

She tried to stop her tears. She didn't want to disturb Milla or convince Fai she wasn't capable of taking the watch. They came anyway. Carol grieved quietly by the fire. She felt lonelier and more isolated than she'd ever felt in her life. It wasn't the same desperate, desolate despair she'd felt when she first woke up on the ship. In some ways, it hurt even more. She would have to move on now. She had others who were counting on her.

 _Could she still be alive?_ She wondered. _Is there any hope?_

She looked up at the stars. She stood up in alarm.

 _Where is it?_

The Kingdom Stone was gone! Carol cast around the sky desperately for it. When she didn't see it, she became horribly afraid.

 _Where did it go?_ She wondered. _Did it fall to Avalice or something?_

A horrible thought crossed her mind. Her spirits ebbed low.

 _Did he take it after all?_ She wondered.

She tried to convince herself that that was impossible, yet it seemed like the most likely explanation. Brevon had come back and stolen it before making his final getaway. Carol stared at the ground. She had to force herself not to give into despair.

 _Maybe something else happened to it._ she told herself.

She knew that was a long shot. Still, she prayed it was somehow true. After everything Lilac had sacrificed to protect the stone, losing it to Brevon spat on her memory. Had anything she'd done achieved anything in the end? Was there any meaning to her efforts?

 _She stopped the war,_ Carol assured herself. _She saved hundreds of thousands of lives… maybe even millions. Even if she didn't save the Stone, maybe things will somehow turn out ok._

How many more millions of lives would die if Brevon got the Stone though? How would they live without power? Carol pictured hundreds of worlds burning as his ships tore across their skies. Every one of those planets would be rife with tales like hers. It was a terrifying picture. Someday, he would return to Avalice for revenge, and without technology they would be defenceless. She knew Brevon well enough to know he would want to get them back, even if he had already won. Somehow, she still felt a measure of hope. She'd been through so much that despair no longer seemed appealing. She resisted it.

 _Maybe we're not so special,_ she considered. _There have to be stronger heroes out there than us. Maybe someone will stop him anyway. Maybe they're already trying. Maybe someone will even help us here. We can't give up._

She looked over at Milla. She was sleeping peacefully.

 _I guess I have other problems now anyway._

She sighed.

 _You're not a problem, Milla._ she thought sadly. _I wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you. I told you that, didn't I?_

She realised belatedly that she hadn't. Cold shame coursed through her. She continued her watch.

She struggled to stay awake as the night grew long. She was already on the verge of passing out. Adrenaline had kept her going, but her body had sustained a huge amount of trauma over the last thirty-six hours. It had had no chance to repair it, unless copious amounts of petal essence counted as repair. Her mind swum. She could barely think at all now. Carol tried to keep her eyes open, but they kept drifting shut. She saw double when she managed to open them. She felt a little like she imagined being drunk was like. It wasn't good for guard duty. She could even be putting them in danger. Still, she didn't dare wake Fai. The passage of time slowed till she could feel every individual second go by.

 _I can't keep this up._ said a voice in her head.

 _You_ _ **have**_ _to keep this up._ said another.

Voices in her head, arguing. Did that mean she was going nuts? No wait, that was just her inner voice talking to itself. Was that normal? Carol heard footsteps behind her. She shot to her feet.

"Who's-"

She went still as Torque emerged from the bushes.

"You…"

It all caught up to her in a second. She suddenly felt extremely dizzy. She began to sway. She felt it happening and tried to right herself. Too late. She collapsed onto her side with a gasp.

 _Oww…_


	21. Morning

Morning.

Carol tried to stay awake, but she couldn't. Exhaustion claimed her instantly. A tiny note of panic ran through her as she realised she couldn't hear footsteps. Wasn't Torque going to help her? Her thoughts ended there. She drifted off into a deep slumber.

* * *

She stood in a foreboding metal corridor.

The floor and ceiling were red as blood. It was dark here. Furnaces burned nearby. She could smell the acrid smoke they gave off. The heat soaked through her fur. She looked around herself in fear. Carol had to fight to keep her breathing steady. She wished she could close her ears. The sound of burning fuel and pistons pulsed against her eardrums and matched the beating of her heart. The cacophony hurt her head, and she subconsciously lifted her hand to her ears. She peered nervously down the hallway.

A door lay in the distance. It divided in the centre like a set of steel teeth. Carol's heart missed a beat and then pulsed all the quicker to make up the sudden shortfall. She stood stock still and stared with dread at Brevon's awful portal. She knew what lay behind it. She never wanted to see it again. She made her decision and lifted her foot to begin backing away down the dreadful corridor.

 _This is a dream. I don't have to face this again._

She forced herself to turn away. Lilac's scream echoed from behind the metal door. Carol's blood ran cold. She closed her eyes. She trembled for a second, then forced herself to walk on. She blocked out Lilac's terrified cries with the sound of her own footsteps.

 _It's not real. It's just a dream._

 _You're leaving her behind!_

 _ **It's not real.**_

Lilac's screams pursued her all the way, but she reached the end of the corridor. A door lay before her. Somehow, she knew it would lead her out of the base. She felt the key card in her hand. She reached down to swipe it. Lilac let out one final, bloodcurdling cry. It sounded horribly different. The pain, anguish and misery dwarfed any that came before. It sounded _final._ Carol's blood turned to ice. Her resolve wavered, and she froze mid-motion. Her pupils dilated to pinpricks. She began to tremble as a horrible silence filled the corridor.

 _She's dead. You left her to die. What's_ _ **wrong**_ _with you?!_

The card key dropped from her quavering hands.

"It's not real. It's not real. It's not real-"

Cold metal grabbed her shoulder. Carol squeaked. She closed her eyes.

" _Found you."_

Brevon's knife pierced her back before she could scream.

* * *

Carol did scream. She hollered at the top of her lungs. She threw herself upwards and stumbled to her feet before she knew what she was doing. Someone yelped beside her. She heard them fall back onto the ground.

 _UGH!_

She looked around in a panic. A cold wind cut through her ragged clothing. She closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, she saw trees. She could feel heat behind her, but it didn't feel like Brevon's furnaces. A second cold blast of wind made her shiver from head to toe.

 _Where am I?_

She needed time to stop hyperventilating. Her heart felt like it would explode from her chest and leap off through the bushes. As she slowly came back down to Avalice, she began to see familiar details.

 _I've been here before._

Her memory began to work again.

 _I'm still in the north. Thank the Ancient Dragons for that._

She brought her left hand up to meet her face and tried to block out the world for a moment.

 _I was dreaming?_

She shivered violently. Her hand came away wet with tears.

 _I was crying in my sleep?!_

She stared at her damp glove. Upset, she folded her arms self-consciously and stared at the ground. Her shoulders arched. A blanket lay at her feet.

 _It was a dream. You know it was a dream. Get a grip!_

She pushed the nightmare to one side though not completely out of her mind. She could still hear Lilac scream. Brevon's hand seemed to rest on her shoulder like a ghost. She decided quickly that she couldn't do anything about that. She tried to focus elsewhere. She glanced nervously round the clearing. Her eyes opened in surprise when she looked right.

"Milla?!"

Milla sat wordlessly on the floor. She'd been sitting there the whole time. She hadn't moved a muscle or made a sound. If she had, then Carol hadn't heard it. She stared up at Carol like a deer in headlights. Carol stared numbly back. Her brow furrowed in worry as the dawn sun shone upon her face.

"You were up all night looking after me?" She asked quietly.

Milla shivered guiltily. She looked away. Carol crouched down hastily beside her.

"Did you get any rest at all?"

Milla didn't respond. She shook her head, but it seemed more a request for privacy than an answer to Carol's question. Carol's face fell. She looked away. She noticed that Milla at least refrained from curling up into a protective ball. Milla's eyes glistened with tears, but they were wide and alert. She seemed a little more alive than she had yesterday. Her eyelids were dark and heavy from lack of sleep. Carol crawled over and took a seat beside her. She kept her hands awkwardly to herself.

"Thanks for keeping watch," she said quietly, "Do you want to get some sleep? There's time. We're not going anywhere for a while, I think."

Milla remained completely silent, but she glanced nervously at Carol. A lance of sympathetic agony shot through Carol at how quiet Milla was, but she took some heart.

 _At least she's responding._

Carol could see the weary exhaustion in Milla's eyes. She beckoned her to lie down.

"Come on. Hit the hay." she recommended. Her voice croaked a little.

Milla whined, but did as she was told. She lay down quietly and curled up on her side. Carol gave her a weak smile, then stood up and moved away. She retrieved the blanket from earlier and draped it over Milla's shoulders. Milla's eyes were already closed. Carol watched her drift off to sleep with a moan. Her heart broke.

 _I guess we did ok. You're going to be alright, Milla. I promise._

She looked down at the sleeping little girl. She seemed so peaceful now. At least she could take some temporary refuge from the cruelty of the world. Carol stuffed her pockets in her hand for warmth.

 _I wish someone would take care of me._ she thought sadly.

"Hey, you did a good job. "

A male voice spoke behind her. Carol jumped. She turned round to see the soldier from before. He regarded her quietly from the other side of the fire. She eyed him warily.

"Where's Torque?" She demanded.

She looked around the clearing. The soldier stared back at her non-plussed.

"Torque? What are you talking about?"

Carol's temper flared.

"The alien! From outer space! Where is he?!" She demanded.

The soldier's expression folded into a frown. He suddenly seemed very serious.

"Miss, are you ok?" He asked.

Carol looked at him in confusion. She didn't like the way he was looking at her.

"I'm telling you, I saw him enter the clearing! Before I..."

 _Before I passed out on the ground from exhaustion._

She fell quiet as the soldier looked at her gravely.

 _"_ Miss, no one has entered this clearing," he said quietly, "It's been just the three of us since you arrived."

Carol stared. She looked away and ran a hand over her head.

 _I must be seeing things. I guess I just hoped..._

She eyed the soldier. A troubled expression came onto her face.

"You've got blood on your armour." she observed quietly.

The soldier looked down. He stared at his stained plate for a moment.

"Yeah," he said sadly, "I suppose I do."

Carol continued to stare at him anxiously. He looked up. When he saw her staring, he sighed.

"You want to know how it got here, don't you?" He said quietly. "My name's Fai, by the way."

Carol looked away into the woods. Her face scrunched up irritably. She couldn't have cared less who he was, but at least he seemed friendly. She didn't know why she was giving him such a hard time in the first place. She realised on some level that she was taking her stress and worry out on him.

 _Did he save Milla's life?_

Maybe she should be a bit nicer to him.

"It would be nice." she said tiredly.

Her attempt to mend bridges sounded half-hearted even to her. Fai sighed. He looked away. A troubled expression came onto his face. Carol was surprised by how young he was.

 _Is he even any older than Spade?_ She wondered.

"There were three of us on that ship of yours, myself, my friend and our sergeant, Wei Fan."

Carol's eyes widened as Fai almost spat Wei's name. She looked away as he continued.

"We were ordered to find more petal essence for your friend."

"I know," Carol interrupted, "I was there when your general was making his dumb plan that nearly got us all killed. So what happened?" she snapped.

Fai's face fell. He hesitated out of nerves.

"We managed to find some petal essence back at camp. The doctors didn't have much to spare. There were a lot of wounded in the battle. We still managed to grab a few leaves, but when we got back, you were gone," he explained.

Carol shifted guiltily and looked at her feet. She snapped defensively at Fai.

"It's just as well I went. Gong would have been dead if I hadn't."

She took some satisfaction at the look of astonishment on Fai's face. He stumbled over his next words.

"W-well, your dragon friend, Li…"

"Lilac." Carol prompted irritably.

 _How do you forget a name like Lilac?_

"Lilac was still fast asleep," Fai explained hastily. "Your other friend was still out cold on the table. We didn't know how to set that medical rig of hers up. We were afraid we'd hurt her instead, but it had run out completely. We didn't know what to do, so we woke Lilac up."

"You think Lilac knows how to set up a drip?" Carol asked. Her tone was scathing, "She's fifteen. She can just about put a bandage on!"

"Well… she managed ok when she woke," Fai said, visibly shaken, "We didn't even realise she was a kid. She got the essence flowing again like she'd done it a hundred times before, though we were afraid she might knock the drip over the way she was shaking."

Carol scowled. She looked at her feet.

 _She wasn't scared about the drip. She was scared about me, about Milla and about everything else that had gone wrong! She probably just dropped the liquid straight into the bag! Though… maybe Torque showed her how to do it or something?_

She had to fight back a powerful wave of guilt. She knew she could have taken Lilac with her. At least then she wouldn't have gotten such a horrid fright. Quietly, she was glad Lilac had been there to give Milla medicine. At least _someone_ in that ship had had a bit of courage.

"When she saw your message, she shot off like a bolt of lightning," Fai explained, "She told us to watch over Milla and then disappeared over the horizon. We lost sight of her before we could even shout. We didn't know what to do, so we decided to stay put. Shun went to check the cockpit."

Carol mentally filled in the blanks. Shun must have been this third soldier, the one who was conspicuously absent. She noted how Fai's face fell. It didn't take her long to fill in the gaps.

"What happened?" She asked, subdued.

"Shun wanted to check the Kingdom Stone. We figured you'd have it on the ship. When we found it wasn't there, Wei flew into a rage."

Fai looked away, wide-eyed. He seemed to shudder slightly at the memory. His voice began to rise.

"He started ranting about you three and how the kingdoms were going to collapse. We tried to calm him down… then he struck Shun with the back of his sword. He had him down in seconds! I tried to stop him, but he knocked me down too. I think he hit me with his shield."

"You let that creep take both of you down?" Carol asked.

Yet another thing she didn't understand surfaced. Fai was a grown man. He'd presumably had training. How did people like that let scum like Brevon and Wei consistently overpower them?

 _Why do we have to keep sorting out the adults' messes?_ She fumed.

"I didn't have my sword out," Fai admitted miserably, "Shun saw what was happening, but Wei got in first. I tried to use my hands. I didn't stand a chance. When I woke up, we were both tied up in the front of the ship. We heard Wei throwing Milla out into the snow."

Carol closed her eyes. She had to fight back a scream. The horrid, stupid nature of Avalicians burst over her for a second. She felt closer to Spade than to Lilac in that moment.

 _She would have been terrified,_ she thought darkly, S _he wouldn't have known anything about what was going on. She was probably trying to find Lilac._

"So you let my friend get driven into the middle of a blizzard while a crazy guy got hold of the ship. Great job," she snarled, "Thanks for making our lives easier."

Fai hung his head. Carol winced. She shifted uncomfortably as the grown man in front of her struggled with his emotions.

 _Oh boy, is he going to start crying? I wish I could just give up and cry. Crying doesn't help. Get a grip._

Fai eventually recovered, but his face was drawn and filled with grief when he rose. Heat rose in Carol's cheeks. She felt like she'd kicked a toddler. She was suddenly glad Lilac wasn't party to this conversation and hoped Milla was sound asleep. She decided to remain silent.

"Wei threw us off the ship," Fai said, shame heavy in his voice, "He left us in the jeep, and then locked us out of the ship. We had to choose between stopping him and saving her. We got after her as soon as we could. By the time we caught up with her, she was face down in the snow. We were out of fuel, so we dragged her into these woods. We thought she was dead."

Carol stared at the ground. She suddenly felt ashamed of herself.

"So what happened?" She asked miserably.

Fai hesitated. He looked like he'd seen a ghost. His mouth fell open, then he closed it and looked away. He suddenly looked distinctly uncomfortable. Carol grew desperate.

"Come on, I need to know," she pleaded, "I need to know what happened to my friend if I'm gonna look after her. So please, tell me what happened."

"When she woke up, she was terrified of us," he whispered. He wouldn't face Carol, and tears slid down his face, "We tried to lure her in with food, but she turned and ran instead. We chased after her when…"

He clenched his eyes shut. Carol winced and tensed up as she listened. Fai looked at the ground. He barely breathed, yet Carol heard every single syllable of what he said next.

"She was attacked by a wild animal. Shun died fighting it off. She watched it swallow him whole. She tried to kill herself afterwards."

Carol felt like the bottom of her stomach had just dropped out. She stared at Fai blankly. Fai stared miserably downwards. A horrible silence fell over the clearing. Carol's mouth fell open with shock. She twisted around and stared at Milla as she slept peacefully on the forest floor.

 _That's where the blood came from?_ She thought numbly, _She saw someone being attacked? She watched someone die?_

 _ **Suicide?**_

Carol's blood ran cold. She shut her eyes. She didn't feel any urge to cry. Instead, a deep, dark sense of overwhelming pressure and misery began to mount inside her. She felt utterly alone. She opened her eyes and stared down at Milla as she wondered what she was going to do. She realised numbly that she held Milla's life in her hands.

Fai seemed to recognise the battle she was fighting. He spoke quietly.

"Are you scared?"

Carol trembled for a moment. Her eyes were glassy when she looked up.

"Yes." she whispered desperately.

Fai stared at her. Even through his own tears, he tried to be sympathetic.

"You're not alone. Everyone knows what you three had to do yesterday. People want to help. They're not going to let you sink."

Carol stared at him wordlessly. She nodded. A single tear ran down her cheek. She looked away. Fai hung his head.

As if on cue, they heard engines in the distance. Carol shot round.

"That must be the rescue party." Fai observed.

Warm relief broke over Carol. At least they were going home. She seized on the opportunity to focus on something else. Anything else was preferable to thinking about the challenges they faced in the future. She knelt down and shook Milla by the shoulders.

"Hey, c'mon. Milla?"

Milla stirred groggily. She opened her eyes. For a moment, Carol thought she might even speak. The moment passed. Milla stared up at her wordlessly. Carol gave her best smile.

"It's time to go home."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Carol stood by the side of a military jeep. It stood ready to take them to a camp to the south. Fai had separated from them. He was taking a separate jeep back to camp. A large band of soldiers would accompany them, but they had all already boarded. All she had to do was get in and they would take her back down south. Carol stared at the side door.

She hesitated.

"Miss?"

Carol heard the driver call out to her. She was keenly aware of the soldiers stares. They'd been kind. Milla sat in one of the back seats with a warm coat and a serving of rations. Carol couldn't bring herself to reach towards the door. She turned and stared up at the forest. The driver became more insistent.

"Miss Tea, we have to leave. It isn't safe here."

Carol stared into the lonely woods.

"But…"

Her face contorted.

"… _Lilac."_

She burst into tears. Carol had held herself together for so many hours out of sheer hope that Lilac might be alive. Even after she'd burst into that clearing, she'd clung futilely to the hope that somehow, her friend might still be out there. Leaving these woods… leaving the one likely place that Lilac might conceivably have made it to without her in tow, that meant giving up. It didn't matter if she had expired on the ice or if some darker force was at play. Lilac was gone. It was final. Carol covered her face with her hand. She wept uncontrollably as a kind soldier wrapped a blanket round her shoulder and quietly guided her into the jeep. She felt herself being sat down gently next to Milla. She could feel her stares. Carol didn't try to hide her grief this time. Milla lay a gentle arm over her shoulder. She began to cry too. Carol lay against her shoulder. She tried to draw what warmth and comfort she could. Someone fastened their seatbelts for them. The ignition started. Carol felt the truck begin to pull away.

"It's ok girls," lied the driver, "We'll get you back home safely.

 _Goodbye Lilac._

* * *

 **Author's Note.**

 _Apologies for the wait folks. I had critical teacher training interviews and I had to focus on them. I was aware that this might prove a problem for the chapter and I should have alerted everyone that it could pose a problem. I will endeavour to ensure that any further delays are informed of in advance. If for whatever reason a chapter is not updated on time, please check my profile. Short of a heart attack, I will have at least given my reasoning._

 _This part will conclude in one or two chapters time. There will be a planned hiatus as I consider the story as a while and do some advance planning for the next part._


	22. The Road Home

The Road Home

The journey back south was a cold, miserable experience. The girls were swaddled in thick blankets, but Carol still shivered every time the wind blew. She sat silently in the back with Milla's arm around her shoulders. Carol didn't know who was comforting who anymore. Milla offered her comfort and warmth. At some point, Carol extended her arm around Milla's shoulders to return her warm embrace. Milla fell asleep quite quickly. She still shivered when a gust of wind blew over the jeep, so Carol tried to snuggle up to her as much as possible. She did her very best to keep the cold winds out.

The deserted trail she'd blazed into the north now teemed with traffic. Every time Carol turned her head, she saw a jeep travelling in the opposite direction or groups of soldiers dismounted in search. The soldiers wore the colours of Shang Tu, Shang Mu and Shuigang, and there were even a few units of mixed nationality. Mighty airships from the Shang Mu Admiralty and Shuigang Air Force shook the ground as they flew overhead, and Zao's great war trucks left deep gouges from the ice. As they travelled south, temporary camps began to appear to host advance search parties who were pushing bravely into the dangerous, unexplored wilderness. The search parties were joined or even replaced by trucks carrying supplies. Carol saw a few radios at work. She even saw a few civilian parties from Shuigang who had taken it upon themselves to join the search. A party of boar from the northern hunting grounds waved cheerily to them as they hurtled north into the fog, emboldened by gleeful enthusiasm. Carol watched in humble astonishment as the whole world tried to find her missing friend. She was reduced to speechlessness.

 _It's already too late,_ she thought miserably, _Will they find her body? Maybe one of those things swallowed her whole. It's not like they would have missed her lying there on the ice._

She swallowed.

 _I don't want to see her like that!... but I want to know what happened. I don't want to be stuck asking myself whether she's dead or not when I already know that she is!_

She shook her head.

 _She's gone,_ she chided herself, _You know what it is like out here._ _ **Accept the fact that she's never coming back!**_

A little voice in her head continued to eat away at her.

 _What if someone else found her?_

Carol couldn't shake that thought no matter how hard she tried. The more she dwelt on it, the more dreadfully likely it seemed.

 _Lilac and Milla entered that circle, but only Milla came out of it again! Someone erased those tracks, but why? Who would have done that?_

 _Who would have wanted to hurt her?_

There was only one person who hated Lilac enough and had the resources to intercept her. A deep, paralysing fear spread through Carol as she thought of Brevon again. She sank down against Milla.

 _I don't want to believe it's him. That would be a fate worse than death for Lilac. If she's lucky, he'll just kill her,_ she thought miserably, _It's if he decides to keep her alive. If he took her to some distant planet…_

Carol pictured Brevon tormenting Lilac on some forsaken rock in the middle of space. Tears of despair began to leak from her eyes. She tried to stay quiet. She tried to convince herself that Brevon might be reasonable, and that he somehow might decide to let her friend go again. She hated herself for even thinking it. Brevon was a sadistic, remorseless fiend who had tried to break Lilac out of pure spite. The idea that he could have won felt like more than she could bear, yet she bore it. Carol settled down again as the jeep crossed the last hundred miles towards safety. She couldn't give in to despair. The camp loomed ahead.

Carol gasped.

It was huge. A city of tents painted in their national colours covered the entire glacier and spilled out onto the ice around. Carol had never seen so many people gathered in one spot. The united tricolor of the Three Kingdoms flew proudly from a rocky outcropping that dominated the camp. Flags from Shang Tu and Shang Mu fluttered everywhere. Carol even saw a few Shuigang banners gathered by the eastern side of the camp. It was more than simply tents. Carol could see great muster yards where expeditions were gathering. Airships took off from temporary landing sites, and the camp was split into clear sections. Judging from the rise of smoke, that included mess halls. Carol stared in humble shock.

"You sent all of this to help us?" She croaked.

The soldier in front of her stirred. He looked out over the paraphernalia and then turned to face Carol.

"Yep," he said sadly, "Every soldier, vehicle and airship we could get our hands on. They'll find your friend, kid. If she's out there, they'll find her."

Carol hung her head. She rose a hand to cover her face. The tears came freely this time. Carol couldn't stop them. The soldier tried to reassure her. He hesitantly held out a hand.

"Hey," he said kindly, "come on. I'm sure-"

"I'm sorry," Carol sobbed, "It's just… this would have meant _so much_ to Lilac. She always wanted people to care… _now she's never going to see…_ "

She hiccupped. Someone handed her a handkerchief. Carol blew into it. Her eyes were red when she emerged.

"…she's never going to see how many people _did."_ she finished miserably.

An uncomfortable silence drifted over the jeep. Carol stared at the floor of the vehicle. She expected the usual platitudes and false promises about Lilac's safety. Instead, the kind soldier gave her a weak smile and turned around again. Carol appreciated that. At least they weren't going to burden her with false hope. The entrance to the camp loomed. It was guarded by a small, temporary checkpoint. The driver drew up to the barrier. A few guards from Shang Mu approached.

"What's your status?" One of them began.

He froze. Carol shifted uncomfortably as he stared at her. He turned to his colleague in the jeep.

"Is that…?" He gasped.

The driver spoke plainly.

"Carol Tea and Milla. Quickly, if you please. I'd rather they didn't die of cold now."

The soldier seemed to freeze for a second. He waved for one of his colleagues to raise the barrier. He hastily turned back.

"Commander's Tent, ASAP," he ordered, "The general needs to speak to them."

"What about Torque?" Carol cried, "And Neera too! I want to see them first!"

Milla stirred beside her. She looked at the soldier anxiously. The soldier glanced at them nervously.

"The general has news," he said quietly, "It's about your friend. He wants to-"

"What is it?" Carol asked.

Her face curled up in desperation. Milla went rigid by her side.

 _Did they find her? Is she safe after all?_

The soldier shook his head.

"I wasn't told, Miss. I think they want to tell you themselves."

 _Tell you 'themselves'?_

Carol's heart sank like a stone. She figured good news wouldn't be a secret. That left only two real alternatives.

 _They've found her body, or they already think she's dead._

Milla twisted around. She stared at Carol in anxious search of confirmation. Carol slowly shook her head. Milla's bottom lip curled up. She looked away. Carol pulled her into a hug as she began to cry softly. The soldier at the gate hastily waved them in.

"Come on," he said, "get them where they need to go."

Carol and Milla clutched one another fearfully as the jeep pulled away. They entered the camp.

* * *

The commander's tent was hard to miss. The large, circular, green structure stood at the very pinnacle of the glacier. The Kingdom Tricolor flew proudly above it, surrounded by the blue, red and green banners of each constituent kingdom. Armed guards stood watch outside. One of them was dressed in the red segmented armour and open helmet of Shang Mu, while the other wore the familiar blue plate of Shang Tu. Carol and Milla eyed the tent nervously as they drew up outside. Carol prompted Milla to get out.

"Let's go." she said quietly.

Milla reluctantly clambered out of the vehicle. Carol wasn't far behind. They drew up nervously outside the tent flap. The guards' expressions softened the moment they saw the children. The soldier from Shang Mu held out a hand.

"Wait a second, please." he said gently.

The driver quietly dismissed the soldiers who had been helping to protect the jeep. One of them gave Carol a shake by the shoulder as he departed.

"Thank you for your bravery." he said quietly.

Carol looked down. She knew she'd technically done something that others would consider heroic, maybe even legendary. She didn't feel like much of a hero. Milla stood quietly by her side. She seemed to be trying to make herself appear as small as possible. Fai's warning passed through Carol's mind.

 _She already tried to kill herself once._

The guard entered the tent. Carol heard the driver speak behind her.

"I'll be here to pick you up when you're ready," he explained, "We can visit your friend, and you can get a bite to eat if you need it. There'll be a change of clothes and a bed if you need it as well. For both of you."

Carol gave him a silent nod. She turned back to the tent. The soldier emerged.

"Alright. You may proceed."

Carol's heart settled like a rock in her stomach. She gave Milla's hand a nervous squeeze. Milla trembled slightly. The guard picked up on their nerves.

"It's ok," he said, "They're on your side."

' _They' again._

Carol wasn't afraid of General Gong. She was afraid of what he was going to say. She realised she had to show some confidence if she was ever going to coax Milla forwards. She gave the guard a weak smile and took a step forward. Her heart began to beat to the drums of war. Milla followed with a whine. They pushed open the flap. Carol's eyes went wide with shock as she saw who inhabited the tent. Gong was indeed there. The general sat behind a small, portable writing desk in the centre of the room. He stood up out of respect when they entered, but that wasn't what stunned Carol.

General Gong was now the most junior person in the room. Mayor Zao stood quietly to his right, and to his left Carol gasped to see Prince Dail of Shuigang rise nervously from his seat. Carol suddenly found herself the focus of two of the most powerful men on Avalice. Milla tucked herself nervously in behind her. Gong spoke.

"Welcome Carol," he said gravely, "I sincerely hope you are well."

Carol looked around anxiously at the foreboding gathering.


	23. News of Lilac

News of Lilac

Carol had never been used to formality. Gestures of respect felt unnatural to her. She didn't know why she had to bow when a highly-ranked individual entered the room or why you couldn't address them like a normal person. That was why she felt her stomach curl up as the leaders of Avalice rose. Of all the experiences Carol had encountered in her life, the most alien had to be formalities directed towards _her._

Nervously, she began to study the faces of the assembled dignitaries. They both frightened and confused her. As Carol looked from Gong to Zao and then from Zao to Dail, she could read nothing from them. Their expressions were as steady and as neutral as a robot's. Not a trace of emotion escaped. Carol wondered if she'd stumbled into some final trap. She wondered if they still planned to punish her for the Kingdom Stone's loss. Then, she realised.

 _They're not angry at me._

The longer she studied their expressions, the more she realised the truth. Avalice's leaders held no malice towards her. They were controlling themselves, but for an entirely different reason. They weren't angry with her. They weren't smiling either. Carol's heart sank to the bottom of her stomach.

 _They feel sorry for me._

Her fear melted away, only to be replaced by a terrible sense of loss. Carol self-consciously lifted a hand to her chest. She gripped hold of the fabric of her shirt. She looked away with downcast eyes and focussed on holding back tears. It was strange. In an odd way, she felt relieved.

 _It's over._

She was in the middle of an army camp surrounded by people who would protect her. There were powerful men in front of her, but they sympathised and for once in her life were one hundred percent on her side. Carol didn't have to be afraid of alien machines trying to kill her. She didn't have to worry about being stalked by a man who would torture her friends and murder her if she tried to save them. She didn't have to worry about being dragged into a conflict she never wanted because she lacked the courage to say no _._ For Carol, the pain and terror of the past five days had finally come to a close… and there was more.

She would never have to steal again. She would never have to commit crimes again just to survive. She wouldn't have to shy away from authority figures every time they passed for fear they would throw her in jail. She wasn't an outcast anymore. She had rights. After six long, terrifying years of being the scum of society, and then _beneath_ that scum, she was being welcomed back in. She was free _._

Lilac had lost everything to see it happen.

Carol didn't know what to say. She stood there in the middle of the room with her hand buried in her clothes. Her other hand held Milla steady. Tears began to slide from her eyes, but she made no move to hide them. She couldn't have named all the emotions that were passing through her, relief, shame, pride, anxiety…

… _grief._

Milla seemed to go very still behind her. Gong sighed. He began to speak, but Carol cut him off. Her voice was small and unsteady.

"I already know what you're going to say."

Gong fell silent. Carol turned away to the side. She wiped her eyes on her fur. She let out a small sob and pulled Milla into an embrace. No one said a word.

"I knew there wasn't much hope," she said quietly, "I just _wanted to believe there was a chance._ "

No one said a word. Carol eventually looked up. Through crimson eyes, she stared at Gong. Gong did not fully meet her gaze. He glanced uncomfortably at Zao. Zao glanced sternly back, but he at least had the decency to soften his expression as he turned back to Carol. Only Dail maintained his presence.

"Did you at least find her body?" Carol asked.

As she pleaded with them, Milla burst into tears.

Gong gave a deep, heavy sigh. He rested two fingers upon his desk. Some small glimmer of hope still clung to Carol as she watched him start to think. Maybe she'd somehow read things wrong. As Gong straightened up however, she realised he had merely been thinking of what to say. More importantly, he'd been thinking of how to say it. He spoke quietly but clinically.

"At this point in time, Miss Sash Lilac is still considered Missing in Action. However, numerous points of evidence have led us to conclude that she is dead, and that we have found the site where she lost her life. Furthermore…"

He hesitated to continue. Carol's face contorted as her worst fears were realised. She began to uncurl from Milla, who was still sobbing uncontrollably. She stared at Gong in shock. Dail suddenly stepped forward. He did something remarkable. He took Carol by one arm, took her by the hand and led both girls over to his chair. Carol followed limply, with Milla weeping in her wake. He directed Milla to sit down in the chair and let Carol rest for a moment by her side. He turned quickly to Gong.

"I think we can dispense with the formalities for the moment, general. Perhaps a gentler touch is required here."

Gong stiffened a little, but he assented. Dail quickly retrieved Zao's seat and brought it over to give to Carol. Zao bristled at that, though he didn't protest. Carol wiped her arm across her eyes. She accepted the seat. She froze, however, when she saw Zao's displeasure. Gong glared.

"For pity's sake man!" he thundered.

Milla flinched and gave a small gasp of fear. Her face contorted. She was visibly pleading for everyone to stop. Zao gave Gong a dark look. He sighed.

"Very well, Miss. It is yours." he said tiredly.

Carol wondered if she should get up again. She didn't understand why Zao begrudged her the seat… but if it was that important to him, she could part with it. She watched as he mouthed something unpleasant to Gong. Gong stared back in cold, stoic displeasure. It was the closest she'd seen him come to hating someone. Tears continued to course down Carol's face as the tension in the room seemed to skyrocket. She suddenly wanted to be anywhere else.

 _I can't take this anymore!_

A hand on her shoulder forestalled her moments before she took flight from the room. Carol looked up in surprise. She found Dail staring down at her.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered, "They aren't angry at you."

His gaze seemed to remove Carol from the tense situation. As she climbed back down from the brink of panic, she began to shake. Her mouth curled into a tense grimace. Dail sighed.

"I'm afraid that this isn't truly about you." he said sadly.

Carol stared. She looked on in silence as he turned to the bickering leaders.

"Could you both stop fighting please?" He said sternly, "I think we would all agree that this is not the time."

Zao and Gong stared at one another for a second longer. Slowly, they relented. Carol breathed a sigh of relief. She calmed down enough for her mouth to relax… though her shaking only got worse. Gong looked down and to the floor. Carol's heart went out to him. He looked genuinely shamed, and he looked at Carol guiltily. To his credit, he held his gaze. Zao, by contrast, sulked. He disengaged, though Carol still noticed him giving Gong a nasty look. She didn't like Zao anymore. There wasn't anything funny or clever about an egotistical bully. Milla couldn't let go at first. She continued to tremble in her seat. Carol was barely calmer.

 _All that over a chair._

The girls couldn't even maintain their grip on one another. Carol's hands lay limp at her side as she wept and shivered in her chair. As the tension slipped away, she couldn't feel anything other than grief. Dail gave her a pat on her shoulder. She let out a small gasp. Carol looked away at the ground. She felt compelled to say something.

Anything to break the horrid _silence._

"We were going to live together," she croaked, "We were going to try to find my family. We were going to live in a house with my parents and have a _normal childhood for once._ "

Every face fell at that statement. Dail closed his eyes for a second. Gong let his shoulders slump as Zao _glared_ at him. Milla let out a gasp of grief. She leant forward and shut her eyes as if in intense physical pain. Her tears fell even faster than before. As usual, it fell to Gong to break the silence.

"Why didn't you tell Lilac you ran away?" He asked quietly. "Before that time in the forest?"

Carol let out a tearful sigh.

"I didn't want to lose her of course," she said ruefully, "I didn't want anyone to know. I was afraid that if I told her she would force me to go back home, and then I'd never see her again. I'd left all my friends behind when I ran away from the Scarves, and I didn't want to lose the only one I had. If I'd just _thought_ for a second…"

Beside her, Milla finally ran out of tears. She lay rigid against the back of her seat and tried to control her constant hiccups. Carol leant on her arms. She stared quietly at the material at her feet.

"I thought she would be angry," she confessed quietly, "and that she wouldn't want to be my friend anymore. Because I looked up to her, and if she found out I lied…"

She sat up against her chair and looked away from Milla.

"…I thought I wouldn't be worth being friends with anymore."

She ended on a whisper.

Everyone fell silent. Milla gave out a tiny, upset gasp. Gong began to speak. Carol cut him off.

"I'm _pathetic."_ she cried. Her voice trembled with guilt.

"You're not pathetic." Dail said gently.

"From what I can see, you're the least pathetic person in this room." Gong pronounced.

He was more stern, but he sounded strangely quiet. His voice lacked its usual strength. Something had gone out, and Carol picked up on it quietly. The general of Shang Tu had lost his confidence.

"There's not a person here who could have gone through what you two endured and come out of it intact," he continued, "I couldn't have done what you did yesterday Carol, not even at my best. Lilac didn't die because of some guilty secret you kept. She died fighting for what she believed was right. You stayed loyal to her to the very end. You did everything you could for her and more. She couldn't have asked for a better friend."

Carol slowly turned back round throughout his spiel, but she rocketed to face him as he finished. She looked up at him with shining eyes. Milla gently clasped her hand. Gong sighed. He looked away. Carol watched as she fingered his desk for a moment and looked around the room. She'd been right. He looked _shaken._

"You did your best," she said quietly, "and I'm glad Lilac had you at her side when she needed you. At least you brought us back out of that forest."

Gong's eyes shone slightly. He looked down to study the desk. He needed a moment to compose himself. Carol almost missed it, but she thought she saw a small drop of liquid strike the surface of the wood. To his credit, Gong mastered himself quickly. He looked up.

"Carol, if you hadn't kept that secret, we wouldn't have the Kingdom Stone today," he said grimly, "so it's just as well you kept quiet. You're no guiltier for what happened to her than the bad weather yesterday. It's just part of the sequence of-"

"What are you talking about?"

Gong fell silent as Carol interrupted. She stared at him with misty eyes.

"The Stone's gone, General," she said quietly, "it's not in the sky anymore."

Gong stared back at her quietly for a moment. Carol couldn't tell what he was thinking. She waited for him to respond. Did he know? Milla turned to her anxiously. Carol gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Oh," Gong said, "You didn't see."

He looked away for a moment. Carol stared at him in mounting bewilderment. She turned to Dail for help.

"The Stone fell to Avalice just a day prior," he explained, "It's already being taken down South. You must have been focussed on other things while it happened."

Carol stared. A quiet sense of relief washed over her. Both girls looked away.

"Oh…"

The obvious question followed.

"But why did _that_ happen?" Carol asked, "It was like this big, swirling lightshow. How could it fall like that?"

Dail and Zao shared uncomfortable glances. Gong's expression hardened with thought. He suddenly looked troubled.

"We don't know," he said grimly, "One moment, it seemed to be releasing more power than we had ever experienced before. Then, it curled up into itself again. We didn't understand what was going on, and we only realised what was happening when it broke out of the sky and tumbled to Avalice in flames. It landed not far from our camp."

He hesitated.

"Only the Ancient Dragons could have understood such behaviour I suppose." he finished quietly.

Carol leant forward. She couldn't buy that explanation. Exasperated, she gestured with her hand.

"But it must have been caused by _something!"_ she protested, "Why would it suddenly do that?"

"I don't know the theological explanation," Dail said, "Maybe it's alive. Maybe there's some ancient code inside that tells it to return to its proper resting place. At any rate, we have it, and that's that. I'm afraid we're as at a loss as you are, Carol." he finished quietly.

Carol stared at him silently for a time. She looked away. The mechanical part of her mind felt distinctly unsatisfied and even troubled by his answer. Nothing happened for no reason. Stones didn't just turn into vapour and then reform to plunge to Avalice. Carol had seen aliens from outer space. She'd encountered ancient beasts that turned out to be mere holograms. After that, she believed that everything had an explanation.

Even magic.

She couldn't dwell on it forever. Carol turned to the one question she needed to ask. It was the question she should have asked as soon as she'd been capable of talking again. She looked up.

"So how'd it happen?"

Her eyes glistened, but her stern expression demanded an answer. Gong sighed.

"At approximately 14:00 hours, your patrol encountered a pit in the ground," he reminded Carol. "I believe that it almost claimed your jeep."

Carol looked away. She nervously adjusted her shoulder. She could remember where the vehicle had nearly crushed it into powder. She sat quietly as Gong continued.

"The thing is that Neera didn't pick that route by accident," Gong said heavily, "That direction was chosen because it followed the trajectory, the _direction,_ of your footprints most precisely. If Lilac was chasing Milla north, she would have followed that path. Unless Milla changed direction suddenly, she would have had no reason to part from it."

 _It makes sense,_ Carol thought gloomily, _I had the same idea myself. Lilac wouldn't have stopped following those tracks. She would have kept going unless something stopped her. I guess something stopped her._

Milla tensed up when she heard Gong discuss her flight. She let out a guilty whimper. Carol curled an arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, it wasn't your fault," she whispered, "You were attacked. It's not your fault you got thrown off the ship."

Milla gasped when she heard Carol knew what had happened to her. She leant in against Carol's shoulder. Carol gripped her there silently. She looked up at Gong.

"Is she going to be alright to hear this?" Gong asked wearily, "She can wait with Torque if she wants."

Carol shook her head.

 _Why don't you ask her instead?_ She thought bitterly.

"She's not leaving my side," she insisted, "I'm not leaving her on her own again."

Gong exchanged a knowing glance with Zao and Dail. He sighed.

"Alright," he said reluctantly, "she can stay."

He paused for a second to study Milla. Milla had flopped down lifelessly into her seat again. She now sat there, staring miserably into space. That frightened Carol.

 _She needs help,_ she realised, _How can I say that though? 'Milla needs help'? Right in front of her? I might as well hold a glowing sign over her head._

She knew perfectly well that Gong, Dail and Zao had eyes. They could see something was wrong with Milla. Like Carol, they could do nothing for her. They were just doing their best in the hope of getting her through another day. Carol sighed.

 _Am I doing the right thing?_

"Can you continue please?" She asked tiredly.

Gong nodded.

"This hole you found was the only hole on the entirety of Milla's route. Aside from the battle that followed…"

He paused as Carol shuddered.

"…we believe that no other wyrms made holes in that area," Gong continued quietly. He hesitated. "Carol, we believe that hole marks the point where Lilac fell."

Carol went quite still.

"So she was _eaten alive?_ " She whispered.

Milla stiffened up beside her.

Gong couldn't maintain his composure any longer. The general's expression crumpled. Pity infected his words as he continued.

"No, Carol," he said gently, "Everything I've come to know about Lilac tells me she would have struggled had she been conscious during the attack. In that scenario, I am certain that we would have found more holes, and in a tighter cluster. It is more likely that she was unconscious and possibly already dead by the time the wyrm found her. She probably passed out from the cold. It would have been quick."

Carol's world seemed to slow down. Her world retreated to just a small circle around her. She could feel Milla tense up like a bowstring in her arms. That was all she was really aware of. Her mind turned the series of events over and over again in her head. Gong's explanation didn't quite seem to add up. Carol couldn't put her finger on why. It made sense.

 _Except…_

"General, were there any other holes nearby?" She asked quickly.

Gong stared back at her in surprise. He thought it through.

"No," he said, "That was the only hole for miles around. It's why we were so certain."

Carol's expression hardened.

… _but that doesn't make any sense._

* * *

 **Authors note.**

First of all, I need to give a massive thanks to ElectricSparx, my editor, for his work on this chapter. ElectricSparx has looked over every chapter since seven diligently, and, beyond pointing out foolish grammar errors I made while still re-learning the finer points, he has offered constant encouragement which has helped me keep going, and his observations on characterisation in particular stand out in my memory. It is entirely possible that I would have canned this by now without his help, and if I had continued, it would be an inferior story. His work on this chapter stands out. ElectricSparx identified an error I made in my characterisation of Zao, and he helped me to characterise Dail as well. I owe him a debt.

I would also like to thank everyone who has left a review, especially MetalVoltEXE, whose extensive feedback has both offered me encouragement and valuable feedback on my writing. Writing without such feedback is a little like feeling your way forward in the dark; you are constantly second-guessing yourself and wondering if you're about to run into a brick wall. It always means a lot.

With that said, I also owe you, the reader, an apology for the lateness of this chapter, especially since I also gave an inaccurate appraisal of the likely future release date. Not only did I miss my normal bi-weekly release schedule of Tuesday, I missed this Tuesday's midnight update slot, which is the natural time for people to expect new chapters. At this point, I feel I owe an explanation. This was a difficult chapter to write, and I didn't help myself by procrastinating. I also struggled with an early draft of the chapter which I later abandoned, which left me lost on how to proceed for a time. I did have a chapter ready to post last Tuesday, but it was radically different, and I didn't feel it was anywhere near ready to go out. A week on with some time to think, and I feel this offering is stronger. I hope the lateness of this chapter will not lessen your enjoyment of the story.

That was a lot from someone who usually tries to keep his nose out of the text. Bystander out.


	24. Case Lilac

Case Lilac

"You sure you didn't see another hole? Something your soldiers missed in their search?"

Gong picked up in the shift in Carol's tone. He thought for a second as she interrogated him for answers.

"We're absolutely sure," he said quietly, "The layout of the holes was confirmed by eyewitness reports and aerial photography. Neera's still laid up, but she was able to provide us with a report. She will be very glad to know you are ok, by the way."

Carol winced and looked away. She realised the adults had been worried about her.

 _Of course they were worried about you,_ she realised, _You ran off into the middle of an ice field full of monsters._

She forced herself to push back the guilt.

 _Beating yourself up won't do anything,_ she told herself, _That's what drove Lilac insane._

She realised that she feared that. Lilac's final cry for Milla still haunted her bones. She turned ruthlessly back to the subject at hand.

"Can I see those photos, please?"

She demanded it. Gong hesitated for a second. He exchanged glances with his colleagues. Reluctantly, he moved for a drawer in his desk.

"Very well," he said, audibly subdued, "I can show you them."

Carol stood up from her seat. She approached the desk as Gong pulled out a large, rectangular envelope. Milla hesitated behind her.

"C'mon," Carol said, turning to her, "You need to know what's going on."

Milla hung her head for a second. She obviously didn't want to dwell on the subject. Still, she climbed onto her feet and followed Carol over to the desk. Gong was busy sorting through a series of black and white photographs. They didn't look very useful. The bright flashes of grey and white looked nothing like the ice the pictures were supposed to represent. Carol wondered how Gong could possibly have gotten any information from these ugly frames. She watched him hand select a large chunk of the photographs. Gong lay them on the table.

"Come over to this side please." he insisted.

Carol slowly shifted around so she could get a better view. Milla stayed close by her side. Gong began to explain what the photos showed. They listened with rapt attention.

"It's a bit hard to make out because the contrast is so poor, but all of this grey stuff is ice," Gong explained, "You can see it change in tone a little as it rises up and down, and there are patterns in the ice itself, but it all basically looks similar. You'll notice that in this first photo, it looks like nothing's there. That's because there's nothing to differentiate a piece of ice from another piece of ice."

Carol mentally took note of the word "differentiate". She only managed to piece the meaning together from the context. She noticed Milla blank out for a second.

"He means all the ice looks the same as the other ice." she explained.

Milla grimaced. Carol realised guiltily that she'd probably managed to work that much out for herself. Now that she'd been presented with the information, the pup seemed unsettlingly focussed. Carol turned back to the subject matter. Gong opened his mouth to speak.

"General, is this really necessary?" Zao complained, "What could they tell from these photos that we couldn't?"

Carol opened her mouth to give an angry rejoinder, but Gong beat her to the punch.

"You would be very surprised." he growled.

Zao sighed and raised an eyebrow, but he silently zipped his mouth shut. Gong and Carol returned to the task at hand without another word. Only Milla lingered nervously for a second. Gong flipped through a few photographs. He finally stopped on one with two circled areas. One area was circled in black, the other in red. The contrast was far darker here. Carol realised instantly what these were. She shifted back from the desk and cupped a hand over her mouth as she stared at the pitch black contrast within.

"You understand?" Gong asked.

Milla looked at him blankly. He sighed for a minute.

"These dark spots represent holes in the ice. The photos were taken from the port side of the airship; that's the left hand side of the ship if you're unfamiliar with nautical terms." Gong clarified helpfully, "That means that these images run from south to north, from left to right. You can see that the red circle is a little further to the North," he observed, pointing to the right-most pit. "That's where the first wyrm emerged to attack Carol and her patrol."

"So the black circle is where we think…?"

Carol trailed off, becoming very quiet towards the end. Gong hesitated for a moment, unnerved by the way she was staring at the scene.

"Yeah," he said. "That's where we think she fell."

He spoke gently, but there was a weariness to his tone that was unmistakeable. Milla stared at the darkened ring. She anxiously looked to Carol for assurance. Carol had to block her out. She was thinking intently.

"And this is the only hole you found here," she asked, "You didn't find any east or west of this picture?"

"We took photos of the whole area," Gong explained, "These photos are the only ones with any marks of interest. They follow your whole pursuit."

Carol made no moves to flit through the rest of the photographs. She didn't particularly want to dwell on that particular near-death experience. Her legs hurt.

 _Too bad. I've got a job to get on with._

"So, who made her tracks disappear?" She asked finally.

She stared impatiently at Gong. Milla regarded her nervously, unsure of where this was going. She turned to look at Gong as he sighed.

"This was what I wanted to tell you earlier," he explained, "We have reason to believe this wasn't entirely an accident. Lilac happened to fall in the wrong place, but someone was laying a trap for her. They expected her to come through this area."

Carol stared at him in grim silence. She'd been robbed of speech for a moment. She watched as Milla's eyes went wide and elected to stare at the ground. Milla looked intensely frightened. Gong could hardly stay quiet after a pronouncement like that. He pressed on.

"They just didn't get to her first," Gong explained, "Nature did that."

"That's insane," Carol said, her voice dangerously quiet, "If the wyrm got her first, why hide her footprints? Why not just go away and make the whole thing look like an accident?"

"Because the perpetrators weren't in the area when it happened," Gong explained, "and they were planning to use the wyrms from the start."

He pulled out a single photo. Carol looked to Milla in confusion. Milla looked utterly at sea by this point. They both looked at the picture. It took them a moment to understand it. Then they gasped.

 _This is… is that?_

"Is that what I think it is?" Carol asked.

The blood drained from her face. Milla clasped a hand to her mouth. Gong nodded grimly.

"A massive hole in the ice created yesterday by wyrm activity. You can see the line of pits that run off into the distance."

He pointed to the massive darkened area, an area that could only be water. He then pointed to the dozens if not hundreds of smaller dark spots that pitted the surrounding ice. Carol was struck silent.

"There must have been dozens of wyrms here," he explained, merely voicing what she was already thinking, "To attract this many, there must have been a feast. Someone slaughtered a pack of animals and left their bodies here as bait. From the sheer size of the area it must have been a massive amount of meat…"

"Or a very good imitation." Dail observed grimly.

Everyone turned to face him as he injected himself suddenly into the debate. He continued as Carol looked to him for answers.

"It's possible a chemical was used that simply mimicked the smell of dead flesh. The more decayed a piece of meat becomes, the stronger it smells, up to a maximum point. There are chemicals in the meat and the microorganisms that feast on it that give off this pungent odour. If our assassin was a good enough chemist, they could have easily synthesised the odour. It would have been simpler than hauling enormous quantities of meat over the ice."

"Or just murdering a bunch of those elephant things." Carol said shakily.

Milla began to tremble. Carol turned to her anxiously. She could tell what she was thinking by her expression.

 _That's horrible._

She looked nauseated. Carol quietly grabbed her hand.

"Sorry," she whispered, "Wanna take a break?"

Milla shook her head. Her face hardened. She obviously wanted to get this over with as much as Carol did. Carol gave her a brief squeeze. She turned back to the map.

"So they brought a bunch of wyrms in," she observed bitterly, "and then left the building. I'm guessing they flew out?"

"Almost certainly," Gong observed, "It's possible someone slipped out on foot, but we're covering a wide area in our search. Unless we find footprints leading out of the area, it's almost guaranteed that our perpetrator escaped from the region by aircraft. They would have needed heavy equipment to erase tracks like this as well."

 _They sure would,_ Carol thought, mystified, _How do you erase several miles of tracks like that?_

"They couldn't have had long," she observed, "I mean, Lilac would have been up there in no time. They would have had to have taken off by then."

"You're missing the main point." Gong observed.

Carol looked up in confusion. She felt a little off-guard.

"Huh?" She asked nervously.

"Think about it," Gong said, "In order to erase Lilac's tracks, she would have had to be in the area in the first place. They must have returned to the scene after she collapsed. They needed only enough time to lay their bait, and then enough time to erase Lilac's tracks after she fell. There's a five-hour window between what happened here and your patrol coming north. That's plenty of time to get on with what they were doing."

There was a hole in that scenario wide enough to drive a train through. Carol raised an angry eyebrow.

"Are you telling me they came back to where those… _things_ were swimming around and did a bit of tidying up?" She exclaimed, "That's crazy!"

"General, there is no piece of technology on Avalice that could remove those prints in such a short period of time." Dail pointed out, "And I seriously doubt Lord Brevon had a piece of tech like that lying around his escape vehicle."

Gong fell silent. He looked visibly disquieted.

"I admit it is a bit of a puzzle," he said quietly.

 _ **A bit of a puzzle?!**_

"It's _insane!_ " Carol cried. She was shouting before she realised it, "You're telling me that someone saw Lilac fall, _**saw my friend die,**_ landed on the ice, and spent the next few hours happily hoovering up her tracks while Booky the Bookworm's uglier cousin tried to have them for lunch?! That's the kind of plan I'd come up with as a joke!"

"Could you stop shouting, please?" Gong said firmly.

"Could you _do your job_ please?" Carol bit back angrily.

Gong flushed at that. He hung his head. Carol drew back, seething. She knew she'd drawn blood. She shifted guiltily when she saw Milla staring at her. Carol tried to force herself to calm down. She found herself clasping her hand to her head. Both Gong and her were silent for a time. To everyone's surprise, it was Zao who spoke.

"So what do you think happened?" He asked.

It was a challenge. Gong looked up, obviously asking the same question. Carol wavered a bit. She felt extremely bitter.

 _Do I seriously have to solve this for you guys?_

She looked again at the picture. The problem was she could see Gong's logic. The timeframe made sense. Carol pushed her own anxieties away as she examined the issue.

 _Lilac comes north. She collapses. The wyrm eats her just as those creeps are setting up their plan. They find out about it and decide to cover her tracks. Why cover her tracks? It's not really worth it if she's…_

… _if she's already…_

"She's alive."

It burst out of her. Carol almost shook as she said those two golden words. She could feel everyone staring at her as she looked down at the map. She had to fight back tears, but they were tears of relief, not sadness.

 _She's alive. She's definitely alive._

"Explain." Gong said hoarsely.

Carol slumped her shoulders. It wasn't exactly concrete.

"It's kind of a lot of trouble to go to in order to hide where she bit it," she began shakily, "I mean, sure, it makes it a bit harder for us to figure out where she ended up, but Neera worked it out anyway. That's not good enough to make it worth covering her tracks."

She looked up at Gong and Milla. They were listening so intently they looked like they might jump at her. She struggled to compose herself as she continued.

"I think someone was there with her. Either the guy who planned this or a buddy of his. They didn't cover her tracks to hide her, they covered _their_ tracks to hide themselves. Then they set this whole wyrm thing up."

"They could have just killed her," Dail said abruptly.

He sounded guilty even as he said it. Carol visibly deflated. Everyone's faces fell. Milla slumped slightly against Gong. She looked exhausted and sick with it all.

"Yeah…" Carol admitted, audibly torn, "they could have just killed her. It would be a pretty good way to hide the body I suppose. And kill anyone who might come after."

 _I wonder if she put up a fight after all,_ she thought despondently, _Maybe she was still awake when they came across her. Lilac… you have to be the unluckiest person in the world. Does the universe just have it in for good people?_

"They would be taking a risk if they just left her there," Gong pointed out, "Someone could have got to her before the wyrms did, and then they have her body. It makes a lot more sense to carry her out of the area. That doesn't mean she's alive." he added sternly.

Carol breathed a little. Lilac might be dead. She might not be. It was firmly back in that grey, uncertain area. That low-burning sensation of anxiety and dread came back into the background of her mind, but it was a relief compared to the crushing grief and misery of just a short time ago. There was a chance. That was what they needed.

If there was one thing Sash Lilac and Carol Tea were good at, it was making the best of longshots.

"What I'm trying to say is that I don't think it matters too much what happened here," she explained slowly. She leaned over the photos again, "There are any number of ways they could have done this, and a tonne of things we don't know. The tracks are what's important. Someone found Lilac on the ice, and they took her out of the area by plane or something."

 _And it probably wasn't Brevon._

She didn't voice that last bit, though it was probably more important than anything. At least Lilac was somewhere on the planet.

Wasn't she?

"I think I need to speak to Torque." Carol concluded abruptly.


	25. Supervision Required

Supervision Required.

"So, how did you get these burns, Miss Tea?"

Carol winced as the doctor examined her ear.

"Would you believe me if I said a starship exploded?"

The panda went still for a second. Then, he slowly straightened up. He shook his head.

"Strange times." he muttered.

They were inside a small, temporary medical ward. Carol watched from the side of a bed as the doctor took out a little vial of red liquid. He moved towards some shelves. Carol could see a drinking glass there. She could also see a syringe. Her eyes seized upon it.

 _Please take the glass._ she pleaded.

He took the syringe of course. Carol tensed with fear. A tooth-filled grimace broke out on her face as the doctor turned towards her. He began to load the liquid into the syringe. Carol caught sight of Milla wincing at her in sympathy. Milla didn't like the ward, or the doctor for that matter. She was trembling slightly, and had slid her hand down to grip the tarpaulin walls of the tent. When Carol saw her in that pitiful state, she forced her mouth closed.

 _I need to be brave._ she realised.

The doctor transferred only a tiny amount into the syringe. He wasn't a young man. Younger than Gong but older than Neera, he examined Carol with hard eyes. Carol stared nervously back. She hadn't known many doctors. This one seemed severe, and she didn't completely trust him with her care. Lilac had always taken care of her injuries.

"Are you afraid of needles?" He asked.

Carol hesitated.

"Yes," she admitted, "A little, I guess."

She looked away at the ground. The doctor advanced. Carol closed her eyes for a second, then opened them again. She tried to pass it off as a particularly heavy blink. She could feel sweat breaking out on her forehead.

 _Is this going to hurt?_

Suddenly, it did. Carol breathed in sharply as the needle entered her ear. A lance of pain radiated through the scalded flesh. Carol closed one eye and grit her teeth, but she cried out as a second, more painful wave cut through her resolve. She groaned as the doctor withdrew his needle. Milla let out a yelp.

"Well done," said the doctor, "five more shots to go."

 _Five,_ Carol thought, _You've got to be kidding me…_

The doctor began to reload his needle. Carol slowly breathed out. She tried to let herself relax as she checked on Milla. Milla was shaking badly. She averted her eyes to the floor the instant she saw Carol look. A guilty pit formed in Carol's stomach.

 _I'm sorry._

The doctor came at her again. Carol shut her eyes. She braced against the stinging pain, but it came sooner than she'd anticipated. A sharp bolt of agony pierced her left ear. Carol caught a cry of pain in her throat. The second wave forced it from her lungs.

"OWW!"

The needle came free. Carol slowly opened her eyes. She breathed out through her teeth as Milla whimpered from the far wall. It had felt worse that time. Though she could feel the essence beginning to work, her skin still felt sore and tender. She felt like the area was heating up, and her ears throbbed like overfilled balloons. Her eyes glistened with tears.

 _That really hurt…_

The doctor paused for just a second. Then, he turned to his syringe. Carol hung her head.

She was _scared._ She wanted the procedure to stop. Revealing that to Milla scared her even more however, and so she pushed her teeth together and endured. She tried to block out the pain that radiated from her ears and into her skull. The doctor paused for a moment.

"We'll give that a moment to take effect. The pain should begin to die down soon. Second degree burns such as these are very painful, but the petals will begin to counteract them. Try to think of something else."

Carol shut her eyes. She could only really think of one thing through the pain. She wanted to speak to Torque. She resented being dragged in here.

 _Lousy burns with their lousy doctors and their lousy painful needles. Why can't he just shove some stinking essence down my throat?_

The pain did start to retreat. Carol could feel her skin beginning to moisten again. She opened her eyes. Milla was staring at her with her eyes wide open, her mouth agape in horror. Carol hunched her shoulders in guilty worry.

"Milla, I don't like this either!" she cried, "But the doc has to make this better! It'll take just a sec longer, ok?"

Milla settled down a little, but she stared on in worry and fear. She continued to tremble slightly. Carol noticed how she gripped her collar in fright and couldn't quite open her eyes. The older girl felt like a weight was pressing down on her.

 _Should I really be doing this?_ She asked herself, _Should I really have Milla in here?_

She considered leaving her outside, but shelved it immediately. Carol wouldn't let Milla out of her sight. She sighed.

"Can you get on with it please?" She croaked.

The doctor knelt down and pressed the needle to her leg. Carol clenched her eyes, gripped the frame and did her level best not to scream. Pure agony shot through her ruined flesh.

* * *

Carol was shaking by the time the doctor finished with her. Her cheeks and clothes were stained with tears. She'd tried to hide the burn underneath her shirt, but the doctor had noticed the bloodstain. He'd stuck the needle straight into her side. One of her gloves lay discarded on the side of the bed. Her right hand hurt too badly to put it back on. She stared at the floor with reddened eyes and just tried to get through the agony.

She didn't even try to put a brave face on anymore. She could still remember the pain. It was receding, but Carol still felt like she'd been doused in battery acid. She looked over to where Milla had curled up on the floor. Milla had gone quite still, and she now rested her head on her knees. She waited miserably for the procedure to end, but at least she seemed to be resigned to it. The doctor sighed.

"Ok Miss. You're done."

Carol slumped in relief. She shut her eyes and tried to block out the pain again. She just wound up focussing on it. It was the worst pain she'd ever felt in her life. Even the steam burns themselves had reached crescendo in a few seconds. Carol had thought she'd moved beyond pain. The world had a way of reminding her just how wrong she was. She released tension from her muscles as she heard the doctor put the syringe down. He picked up something else.

"I just need you to open your eyes so I can check them."

Carol forced herself to comply. Her body instinctively worsened it's trembling as the doctor leant over with a torch. He scared her now He shone the torch into her right eye. The light burned. Carol shut her eyes again in a hurry. The doctor stepped back.

"I'm going to need to see your other eye, I'm afraid. Come on, you're almost done."

Carol reluctantly obeyed. She'd already done this once. A flash of light, and it was over. The doctor finally straightened up. He was satisfied.

"You're responsive," he concluded, "You are lucky to be alive, Miss Tea. Wildcats are known to be resilient to harm, but you are a marvel even by that standard. I am astonished you are still conscious, never mind standing. Second degree burns, a cracked skull and the remnants of hypothermia were all present when you came in here, yet you appear to have made a full recovery. Please do not take this as a license to push your luck." he warned.

Carol bristled with irritation.

 _Believe me doc. If I can help it, I'll try._

She pushed herself off the bed. The pain had finally receded to a dull ache. She could see new skin beginning to form on her legs. It was a pale, sickly colour that would probably burn in a few moments, but it looked a lot healthier than blood blisters. She touched her now-healthy ears.

"My fur is going to grow back, isn't it?" She asked. She still had to strain her voice through discomfort.

"Assuming your hair follicles have regenerated, yes," the doctor clarified, "Given how well you've recovered from the essence, you won't be bald for too long. Eat well, stay safe, and you should be back to normal within a few months. Your coat may be a bit thin until then."

 _Good thing for puberty I suppose._ Carol thought grumpily.

Wildcat coats took a long time to grow in, but they got a boost during adolescent years. By the time she was an adult, Carol hoped to have a coat as good as any plate armour. It wasn't just a fashion statement. Carol maintained her fur as carefully as she would her favourite weapon. It was the last thing that stood between her and a bolt potentially, and it carried a certain status. Spade had warned her about it once.

 _You have two advantages that the rest of us don't. I suggest you look after both. You can squander anything if you aren't careful with it._

Carol gingerly wiggled the strained fingers of her left hand. She'd certainly put her claws under enough strain. She resigned herself to being more careful in the future.

 _Maybe I should try something with a bit more reach._

She turned to Milla. Milla looked up at her from the floor. She perked up slightly when she saw Carol was standing. Carol began to force herself forward. To her surprise, it didn't hurt very much. The medicine had already done most of the work. She crouched down opposite Milla.

"Hey. That was pretty scary, huh?" She whispered, "It's alright. It's over now. I'm back at a hundred percent."

Milla looked away. Carol straightened up with a sigh.

"Come on. We need to go. Let's get out of here before we get used for science."

Milla stiffened up. Carol winced.

 _I was joking._ she complained.

Milla still uncurled herself from the floor. She stared up at Carol in a mixture of fear and concern. Carol held her gaze for just a few seconds to let Milla know she was ok. Then, she turned back to the doctor.

"Thanks for your help, I guess," she said reluctantly, "Can you tell me where my friend is?"

"Take a left out of here and look for the third ward on the right. He's resting in th-"

There was a rustle of fabric, and the flap to the rest of the hospital opened. Carol turned around. She let out a small gasp of fright. Torque was standing right behind her. He looked away the moment she made eye contact.

"Hi… Carol." he said haltingly.

He looked conflicted. Carol gripped her shirt guiltily. She looked to Milla, who was now eyeing Torque like a lit bomb. Torque finally turned to her as the doctor quietly exited the room.

"Do you know?" He asked.

His voice was strained and stilted. Carol understood him instantly.

"Yeah," she whispered, "I know."

She hung her head. Carol felt utterly ashamed.

"I'm sorry I abandoned you… twice. I didn't know what else to do."

Her voice broke, but she held herself back from any more tears. She needed to face this like a grown up.

 _Take responsibility!_

"I needed to help the search. I needed to find Lilac… and Milla," she said weakly.

It sounded lame and it felt lame. Carol had split off from the group. Torque let out a terse sigh.

"You could be dead right now," he chided, "That march into the north was a death trap."

Carol lowered her head to her chest. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and fidgeted awkwardly.

"I know," she said quietly, "I just wanted…"

She choked off. Carol bit back a sob. Torque softened his voice a bit.

"Did you find her?"

Carol looked up a little, fully conscious of the tears in her eyes. She realised who Torque was talking about.

 _Oh… right. Milla._

"Yes." she said quietly.

She didn't take any pride in it. Torque bowed his head.

"Well… I'm sure it means a lot to her that you came."

Carol let out a sob. She stumbled forward and pressed herself against Torque's chest. Torque pulled her into a hug as she disintegrated.

"I'm so glad you're ok," she whimpered, "I thought you were dead!"

"I almost was," he confessed, "Lucky you got me out."

"You didn't need to do that!" Carol cried, "You already saved my life twice!"

"We're even then," Torque replied, "and I owe you far more than that."

Carol pushed away from him. Her expression hardened in denial.

"That was mostly Lilac," she said, "I-I didn't do all that much really-"

"That's nonsense."

Torque held her shoulders a little tightly. Carol fell silent. She suddenly felt afraid.

 _Please don't do this._ she thought.

Torque continued.

"You got us out of that base alive. You took Prince Dail down on the glacier. You saved Milla's life… who saved us _twice,_ I'll remind you…" he added sharply before either girl could protest, "and Lilac told me you saved her from Brevon's last machine."

He looked her dead in the eye.

"Do you deny it?" He asked.

Carol looked away. Part of her problem was that she couldn't remember much from that fight. All she could remember was latching onto the big robot as it fired wildly at her friend. She tore into it again and again… then her memories ended. She shivered at the abrupt cut-off… but now that she thought about it, she couldn't really remember Lilac doing much of anything during that fight. Lilac had mostly just kept Brevon busy.

"No." she finally whispered.

Torque let her go.

"Then cut the nonsense," he said gently, "You're not doing anyone any favours by denying your part. It's not about being humble-"

"I AM NOT JUST BEING HUMBLE!" Carol cried angrily.

Torque fell silent for a moment. Then he shrugged his shoulders and went on.

"Yeah, but you're treating this like we're counting your stake or something." he explained grimly, "Carol, you had a job to get on with and you got on with it. So stop this. Right now. Understand?"

Carol shifted.

"Yes… no… I don't _know!"_ she cried in frustration, " _I don't want to talk about it,_ ok? It's not like a medal I won in a tournament or something, it's just…"

"Horrible," Torque completed, "Carol, I know. Believe me, we all feel the exact same way. No one's feeling good about what happened up there. We all felt scared, we all feel guilt and we all have bad memories from it, but we just had to get on with it... have to get on with it. That's all there is to say. That chapter's done."

Carol was silent. Torque sighed a little. He gave her a stiff clap on the shoulder.

"So stop beating yourself up about it." he concluded.

Carol slumped at her shoulders.

"I just don't understand… Torque… how can you be so _calm_ about all of this? I can't stop going over it in my head… and yet it doesn't make any sense!"

"Because I've been through it before," he explained simply, "Maybe not on this scale, but I've been here. I've seen this happen a hundred times to various people, and it's always the same to some extent. You just need to keep moving on… and stop blaming yourself for things you could do nothing about."

His voice hardened again towards the end. Carol closed her eyes. As hard as Torque was being on her, he actually made her feel a lot better. Someone had been there before and hadn't gone completely insane. It put the nightmare in perspective. Torque turned to Milla.

"How about you?" He asked.

Milla looked down at her feet. When Torque continued to wait, she looked up at him nervously. Carol waited tensely in the hope she might speak. Milla just stared up at him with two big, nervous globes. Torque rested an arm on his waist.

"Milla?"

His voice and face shifted into worry as one. Milla shook her head. She looked down and away. Torque looked on helplessly as she began to tremble.

"Milla, what's wrong?"

Carol finally decided that she needed to say something.

"She won't say anything."

Torque looked around. He had pale shock on his face. He clenched his jaw in his hand as he turned back to Milla.

"How long has this been happening?" He asked.

"A day or so, I think," Carol said, subdued, "I think she might have been like this since she woke up. The soldier who found her says she saw some really horrible things."

Her voice broke.

"I don't know what to do…" she confessed.

Torque gave Milla a hard look.

"What exactly did she see?" He asked.

Milla shot up in fright. She looked to Carol and begged her not to tell. Carol hesitated. Her face fell with nerves.

"I don't think I should tell you that for her, Torque." she said guiltily.

Torque sighed in exasperation.

"Fine," he said, "Milla, look at me. Milla?"

Milla didn't respond. She seemed to be stiffening up. Carol could see that she didn't like this, and she could see that Torque wasn't going to back down. She intervened. She couldn't quite control her irritation at Torque's sudden assertiveness. It was becoming intrusive.

"Torque, could you let her rest, please?" She warned, "You're not going to get anything from her."

She began to approach. Torque stepped back. Carol formed a triangle between them. She looked at Milla in worry.

"She hasn't said a word all day, or yesterday either. I don't know if it's because she can't or because she doesn't want to try."

"But if we can't communicate with her, we can't find out what's wrong," Torque pointed out, "How are we supposed to help her if we…"

"Isn't it obvious?"

Carol croaked that question out so miserably that Torque had to take pause. He waited for her to go on. Carol bent down so she could look Milla in the eye. She could see Milla's eyes glimmering.

"It's the same as me," Carol said gently, "She's blaming herself for everything that went wrong. Only it's so much worse, and I don't think it's just going to go away. Milla…"

Milla looked away sharply. She began to shake. Carol pulled her into a hug as she broke down into tears. Torque was silent. For a long time, neither of them spoke. They waited for Milla to calm down a bit. It was only when Milla had mostly cried herself out that he finally spoke.

"She needs psychological attention." he said sternly.

Carol suffered through a bolt of fear as he said that. She turned to look at him angrily.

"Or maybe she just needs a chance to do something normal for a change!" she snapped.

She turned back to Milla. Torque looked at the ground in dismay. Carol started to speak quietly into Milla's ear.

"Look, we'll travel back to the capital, ok? We'll figure out something to do. Something decent for a change. I don't really know anything about stuff like that, but we can probably get help. Maybe the Magister will know…"

Torque obviously didn't like this one bit. He gave a heavy, disapproving sigh. He remained silent, but Carol could sense the growing confrontation. She let go of Milla and turned on him.

"Do you have a problem?" She asked.

It wasn't a friendly question, and it wasn't received as one. Torque stared sternly back.

"This isn't normal, Carol," he warned, "and it isn't going to just go away. It certainly isn't something you should feel you can work your way out of by being a good girl for a few months. That way lies madness."

"Well, what do you think we should do?" Carol cried, "I need to do something to help her!"

Torque gave Carol the hardest look he could summon. Carol felt her confidence slipping away. She felt like she hadn't quite grasped the full scale of the conversation. Torque spoke quietly, but his voice held a tinge of iron that Carol had never heard before.

"I wasn't talking about her, Carol."

Carol froze. Forces coiled up inside her that threatened to explode. She stared at the floor, looked up, stared at the floor… and then opened her mouth. Torque cut her off before she could scream.

"Carol!" he warned.

He glanced towards Milla. She'd begun to tremble violently. Carol shut her trap. She glared at Torque.

 _This is your fault._ she accused silently.

She looked at Milla and tried to figure out what she was going to say. Then, she realised why she couldn't help.

 _I'm now part of the problem._ she realised.

It was then that Carol realised that she was really in trouble.

"Oh Stone…" she whispered, "I'm messing up, aren't I?"

Torque was quiet for a moment.

"I think it might be best if we both step away from this for a moment," He said softly, "I was too direct, and I'm sorry."

Milla suddenly curled up on the floor. Carol looked down on her in terror.

"I don't know what to do…" she whispered. "I didn't mean…"

Her voice quavered. Torque paused for thought.

"I've got an idea," he said, "Have a seat beside her, Carol."

Carol hesitated for a moment. She didn't quite see where he was going with this. It was clear that Torque wasn't wavering however, and he seemed to know what he was doing. She didn't, so she quietly lowered herself down next to Milla. Torque sat down opposite them. Carol finally realised what had happened and just how clever he'd been.

 _Oh._

He'd just placed them both on the same level.

 _Because he thinks there's something wrong with me too. Because there is something wrong with me. Or at least with what I'm doing._

Torque took a moment to breathe before he continued.

"Alright, listen," he began, "Milla? Could you look at me for a minute?"

He spoke in the gentlest voice imaginable. Milla didn't respond immediately, but she eventually looked up. Her eyes were full of tears. Torque regarded her carefully for a moment.

"Whatever happened out there on the ice does not make you a bad person, ok? It doesn't make it your fault. I know you might not understand that now. I know it might take time for you to adjust to things, but you _don't_ have anything to make up for. You're a brave girl, and you did your best. Alright?"

Milla stared at him for a second in fear, but she slowly nodded. She lowered her head down. Torque turned to Carol. Her defences went up in an instant.

"Carol?"

She regarded him warily.

"Yeah?" She asked sullenly, "What?"

Torque drew in a tense breath.

"I know you want to help Milla. I know you feel you have a responsibility to her, but you have to understand you are not alone. You are not her legal guardian, and there are other people around who need to help both her and you through this. Above all else…"

His voice hardened in warning.

"…Carol, Milla is not your "kid" to look after. She's her own person, and you can't dictate what she does. You can support her, but don't overstep your bounds. Do you understand?"

The words came like blows. Carol hung her head and closed her eyes. She felt ashamed of herself.

"Tch."

Torque's expression hardened.

"Carol…"

Carol looked up. She snarled at him tiredly.

"Yeah, alright," she snapped, "Now are we done here? I want to talk about anything else!"

Torque closed his eyes for a moment, but he let out a breath in concession. He nodded his head.

"Alright," he said, "look, we don't have to resolve this right now. The general's probably going to take you down South, and then the Magister will want a word. That'll probably be the time to decide where to go next. For the moment, we should just sit tight. I... know that's probably not the easiest thing right now… with everything that's going on."

Milla stared quietly at her legs. Carol looked away irritably. Torque's face fell. He studied his own knees for a second.

"…what did you want to talk about, Carol?" He asked eventually.

Carol sighed.

"Torque, do you think Lilac might have been kidnapped by… aliens? Like you I mean, not Brevon."

Torque stared at her blankly for a second. Then, he looked away.

"Shoot," he said quietly, "I hadn't even thought of that. Uhm..."

Carol and Milla waited anxiously for him to continue.

"I suppose it's not impossible," he conceded, "Though I really don't think they could have done it on their own. They would have needed a local guide… unless they've been analysing the planet for years. I mean, she wasn't exactly an easy target. And the way they went about it was bizarre... even by abduction standards."

Carol raised an eyebrow.

"Abduction standards?"

Torque stared at her uncertainly for a second. Then, something seemed to click.

"Oh… yeah. Illegal abductions from protected worlds. They do happen from time to time. Carol, I thought you'd spoken to the general? You do know…"

"We've changed his mind," Carol explained grimly, "Torque, what do you mean 'abductions from protected worlds'? Does this stuff happen all the time or something?"

"Unfortunately," Torque replied. He sounded unnaturally subdued, "Carol, listen. If Lilac really was taken off this planet, then she is in serious trouble. There are thousands of inhabited worlds out there, and everyone's fighting the war with Brevon. Our chances of finding her are… distant."

"Isn't there some kind of police force that can deal with these things?" Carol asked.

A note of desperation crept into her voice. Milla had looked away again. Torque smiled faintly at Carol's imagination, but it soon faded as he spoke.

"As a matter of fact, there is, but it's underfunded and understaffed. As if that wasn't enough, there are people who haven't signed the treaty allowing them to operate in their world… and some planets that completely ignore the rules on respecting natives. Wholesale exploitation is prevented by guarantee, but no one is going to start a war over a few missing people. There are disturbingly few protections for undeveloped planets."

Carol sunk down behind her arms. She struggled to hold back tears.

"So what you're saying is that some creep could have taken my friend, and that I'll probably never see her again? And there's nothing I can do about it? I _hate_ the universe…"

She buried her head and began to shake with sorrow and anger.

"I know," Torque said sadly, "It… really hasn't been a happy first contact scenario, has it? Carol, unfortunately there are a lot of bad people out there in the galaxy, just as there are probably a lot of bad people down here too. People up there just have… more resources sometimes. I know that isn't fair." he added hastily.

"It's not..." Carol croaked.

 _Life isn't fair._

Torque sighed.

"Look, maybe we should find the others and try to put this all together. Neera's recovering in one of the rooms here, and that assassin you hired is still hanging around as well. If we all put our heads together, then maybe we can make some sense out of this. However, we really want to find a terrestrial reason before we move onto extra-terrestrial stuff."

Carol and Milla looked at him blankly. Torque sighed.

"We should look for people on Avalice that could have taken Lilac before we move onto aliens." he clarified.

 _I also didn't hire Spade._ Carol thought, but she kept that to herself.

She didn't really feel like moving. Torque got to his feet. He offered Milla a hand, which she accepted silently. He offered a second hand to Carol. She looked up at him with a sigh.

"I can stand up by myself, thanks." she said gloomily.

Torque's expression fell as she pushed herself to her feet. Carol soon stood eye to eye with him.

"Come on. Let's go." he said gently.

Carol shrugged. She shuffled wordlessly out behind Milla as Torque beckoned them out the ward.

* * *

Torque watched them go.

"I think it's left to see Neera," he said.

As he followed them out, a seed of doubt planted itself in his mind.

 _So, they're involved in the investigation now. They really shouldn't be. Carol's way too close to all of this, and I think Milla is just following her around. I suppose it helps keep them occupied, but I hope the general gets our evac soon. The sooner this ends the better. These two should be in school or with a family, not chasing after Lilac. I just hope Lilac's alright. She's strong, but this after everything that has happened? Even if she's alive…_

Milla paused as they walked through the wards of the tent. Torque had just enough time to complete his thought.

… _is she going to be the same person?_

He heard voices talking. From where he was in the line, Torque couldn't quite make them out. He recognised Neera's voice. The second voice sounded vaguely familiar. He took pause.

 _Is that?..._


	26. Boiling Tea

Boiling Tea

"So what do you want me to say, Neera? That I screwed everything up? That I betrayed my family, sold my honour, and _alienated the only other person on this forsaken rock who was worth a crystal in my eyes?_ You think I did that for no good reason? I _didn't_. That man needed to die… and it was my job to make sure it happened."

Carol froze outside the ward. A shard of cold dread pierced her through her heart. This was the last conversation she wanted to walk into by surprise. She couldn't escape, however, and Neera's cold reply soon held her in place.

"And did you even know why this man needed to be killed? Did you even ask?"

"An assassin doesn't need to be asked, Neera. He was marked by the Scarves for death. You don't make it onto that list by stealing New Year's balloons. Lilac knew that, and that's why I can't forgive her."

Carol felt sick. A cold, nauseating anger rose in her stomach and clouded her mind.

 _How could she know? You just assumed she did because they brainwashed you. I…_

"People to this day are still paying for what she did."

That ignited it. Carol's anger turned to white hot fury. She felt Torque's hand on her shoulder.

"Carol, just _think_ about this for a-"

Carol tore the tent flap out of its stitching.

"YOU _LIAR!"_

If anyone had any illusions surrounding Spade's invincible composure, they were shattered in an instant. The seasoned assassin showed no outward signs of panic, but his body language betrayed him. He was a deer in headlights before the enraged wildcat. Carol drew up to a height that seemed impossible for a child. She'd always been tall for her age, and in her fury she exuded a red, raw anger that threatened violence upon everyone in the room. Both Neera and Spade knew it. Spade stood up as soon as she approached. For the first time since she'd ever met him, his face betrayed real fear. Carol didn't give him a chance.

"So she was just supposed to _know,_ was she? She was just supposed to know that the poor sucker you had marked had it coming to him? You just expected her to believe in the Scarves and go ahead with whatever your _disgusting crew_ did? Why don't you take that scarf and your lessons and _shove them up your-"_

"Carol, what are you _talking_ about?!" Spade barked.

He was visibly animated. He leant away from her slightly, and his breaths came quickly and with force. Carol fell silent. She didn't understand his confusion.

 _What am I talking about?_ _ **What aren't I talking about?!**_

"SHE NEVER KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO MURDER SOMEONE! DID YOU THINK SHE WAS JUST GOING TO LET YOU DO IT BECAUSE THE SCARVES SAID SO? _WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!"_

She leant so close to him her spittle sprayed his face. Carol glared at him for a few moments. She expected him to crumple and admit to everything, to admit to what a fool he'd been. She had him dead to rights, but Spade didn't follow the script. He didn't fold or argue back blindly like she'd been ready for. The breakdown she'd been waiting for, that she'd dreamed about some days, never came. He stared back at Carol with eyes as wide as saucers and didn't give an inch. He didn't say anything back, but Carol suddenly felt like she'd said something deeply wrong. It felt more unsettling than any rage. Her confidence melted away in moments.

"What do you have to say?" she said at a deathly whisper, desperate to get some kind of answer from him, "Did you think she was just going to believe in you forever? _Answer me!"_

"Carol… do you honestly believe that?"

Spade's voice was so shaken and so uncharacteristically quiet that it shook Carol to the core. An unreal quality settled into the air that made her feel like she was drowning. She stared at Spade in desperate, pleading confusion. She understood what he was saying, but she didn't want to. It _couldn't_ be true, could it? Spade's stern, unwavering expression left no doubt.

"Carol, Lilac knew we were going to kill someone. It was my first assassination… and it was supposed to be her first assist. That's why I asked her to help."

Carol's first reaction was denial. She stared at Spade in disbelief and pleaded with him to retract it. She searched his face for any traces of a lie, and then for any trace of fleeting weakness. She found none. She turned to Neera. Surely she would have the real answer? Neera stared back at her with all too certain horror. Carol's face contorted. She turned to Torque in one last ditch attempt to deny the undeniable. He couldn't believe this, could he?

Torque stared back at her with unflinching, helpless certainty. He accepted the truth the same way he always did. In the forest, when everything had caught up with her at once, he'd been able to provide her with an answer she could live with. He said nothing now. He had nothing, and Carol knew it. She turned back to Spade with tears in her eyes.

"You mean… Lilac never told me…"

Her voice broke before she could finish the sentence. Spade's face crumpled. The man she'd feared for so long, the man she'd hated and cursed the name of day in day out… the boy who had once been one of her _greatest role models,_ now looked on her with pity. It was the only look she couldn't endure. Carol had no answer to that.

"I'm sorry Carol. I really, really am."

Carol shrieked. White hot fury unwrapped from her bones as she pushed Spade as hard as she could. He stumbled away from her. Everyone stepped back.

"GET OUT! _GET OUT GET OUT_ _ **GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!"**_

The ward was vacated immediately. Every adult left the room as Carol repressed her building rage. Her fists clenched, her knuckles went white and blood flowed to her extremities in rivers. The tips of her ears went a dark, threatening red.

Everything in this room needed to die.

Carol turned to the wooden chair Spade had been sitting on. She picked it up and threw it across the room. She screamed as she let it fly. The chair collided with a small wooden cabinet at sixty miles an hour. Both objects were reduced to splinters. The collapsible bed Neera had been treated on came next. Carol stormed towards it. She smashed her elbows down into the foamy surface and split it clean in two. Carol seized the left-hand piece. She grabbed the legs and tore them away from the material with a scream. The leg flew across the room and hit a wall outside. She let the mattress fall to the ground.

She looked around for something else to destroy. Only one thing caught her eye. There was a defibrillation machine in the corner. It was an ugly steel thing that relied on heavy metal paddles. It's battery was the size of a baking tray. It needed to go. Carol marched up to it. She picked it up, let out a shriek and _drove_ it into the ground. Sparks flew. The battery exploded with a frightening bang. Thankfully, it didn't catch fire, but a threatening acrid stench began to fill the small space as smoke billowed towards the ceiling. The steel frame had been cracked wide open by the impact. Carol stumbled back. She was left in a smoking, destroyed ruin. Her anger left her like a vengeful spirit. It abandoned her in moments, and she was left feeling impotent. Cold, black despair filled her as she stared down at the wrecked defibrillator.

 _She never believed in me, did she? She kept it secret all those years. Why she left the Scarves… what really happened to her. She never trusted me enough to let me know. And I still don't… because the Lilac I know would never have agreed to murder. Not even for a second…_

She looked around at her handiwork. Nothing in the room remained whole or even repairable… except one thing. Milla stood the centre of the room. She stared at Carol in sad, understanding silence. She didn't even seem scared. Carol stared at her through puffy red eyes. She hadn't even realised Milla was there. She was too stunned to say anything.

"This is a weak moment, Milla," she said eventually, as she gathered up the broken pieces of her pathetic façade, "You're… you're not supposed to see this. Please, just leave with the o-"

Milla began to walk towards her as she spoke. Carol's weak protests were cut off as she was pulled into a hug. She folded her arms around Milla in a moment of stunned, forlorn silence… and then her resistance was broken forever. She broke down. Carol burst into tears. No one else came to her rescue. Not _one_ of the adults who were supposedly responsible for her dared enter the tent… but they didn't need to in the end. As Carol sat there with her one remaining friend's arms around her waist, she could see Lilac standing at the top of a great winner's podium. As tears cascaded down her cheeks, as she gazed upon the idol she had worshipped half her life, the greatest hero she had ever known gave her trademark gentle smile. She waved a little, giggled… and then turned her back to leave. A wind almost seemed to blow through the room. Carol watched through her mind's eye as Lilac dismounted the stage to imaginary applause… and then faded into warm sunlight. She could almost hear a crowd cheering as the vision reached its climax…

…and then ended. The Lilac Carol had known was gone. She had finally been allowed to dismount from her pedestal. She'd done her job… and her part in that stage play was truly done. Carol was left alone in Milla's arms. She stood in the middle of a shrine she'd destroyed. The unrealistic image she'd built up over years had been shattered in one last violent, hate-filled outburst. No one else was there to pay tribute to her penitent idolatry. Even Milla couldn't read her thoughts. The moment was hers and hers alone. Carol sobbed. She buried herself in her friend's cheek.

 _I know you weren't perfect Lilac. I know that. Just please, please,_ _ **please**_ _be ok… and if you can't be ok…_

… _please tell me you're at least at peace. Don't suffer any more._

* * *

It was strange. As Torque peered into the room again, he somehow knew Carol was going to pull through. It didn't matter how horrifying the incident itself had been. The way she let Milla into her space, the way her anger left her as quickly as it had come… he knew it wouldn't haunt her in the same way Lilac's demons had. Lilac had repressed her anger for years. She'd hidden her doubts and fears away in her mind, and they had been allowed to grow and fester. She hadn't truly let anyone in, not even her best friend, and bad things had grown in that darkness. Carol's actions showed that she wasn't going to go down the same destructive road. She slowly brought her sobbing under control. She eventually managed to break away from Milla. Milla let her go gently as she stared at the floor in silence. There was a grace in the way Carol accepted help. She closed her weary eyes for a moment and just accepted what was happening in the same way she'd endured so many bitter hardships. Torque slid back into the room.

"Are you ok?" He asked quietly.

Carol looked up, but she didn't look at him. She instead met Milla's shining eyes. She sniffled slightly as she spoke.

"Yeah," she said softly, "I… I think so."

Torque accepted that in silence. He watched as Carol dried her eyes and sniffed as heavily as she could. It made a truly disgusting sound. She gasped.

"I think I need a tissue…" she whispered.

Torque didn't have one on him at that exact moment. As he thought about how to approach that conundrum, a soldier from Shuigang sprinted into the room. He stared at the carnage, aghast.

"What happened here?!" he cried.

Carol eyed the soldier nervously for a second. She turned back to Milla.

"I think I have some explaining to do." she said guiltily.


	27. Chasing Answers

Chasing Answers

* * *

"Come with me please, Miss," the soldier said as gently as he could, "You're going to need to explain what happened here."

Carol had to force herself to sober up as she faced up to what she'd done. A sense of shame filled her as she looked around the room.

 _I lost control,_ she realised, _I haven't done that in years. Not since that day…_

Her elbows still hurt from where she'd smashed the hospital bed in half. Milla gave her a tug by the arm.

"Alright," Carol said, "let's go see the general then."

She reluctantly let Milla guide her by the arm and lead her out of the tent as the soldier followed behind. A part of her felt like she should have been moving under her own power. Still, it felt nice to be able to lean on someone again, even if it was someone younger than her.

 _Maybe that's good for both of us._ a little voice in her head acknowledged.

As Carol emerged with Milla, she saw almost everyone she expected to see. Torque stood outside in the snow with his arms folded. Neera stood nearby. They both looked worried. Carol felt relieved to see them… but she realised a moment later that someone was missing. She felt a lump of anger begin to rise in her throat.

"Where's Spade?" She demanded.

"He ran off into the camp," Torque explained, "Carol…"

"Which way did he go?!" Carol asked urgently.

Carol pulled out of Milla's arms and began to storm out into the camp. She ignored the note of warning that had crept into Torque's voice… and a warning from the soldier behind her.

"Carol, this isn't a good idea…" Torque began.

"Just wait a second!" Neera demanded.

Carol glowered at them. A dark, dangerous look came into her eyes.

"Torque? Which way did he go?" She asked.

Both Neera and Torque realised that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. Their expressions wavered back to neutral as Carol stared them down. Milla remained paralysed behind her. Carol was conscious of her stare. She was wide-eyed with worry.

Carol reined in her anger.

"He dragged my best friend into something that wrecked our lives," she seethed, barely keeping a lid on our temper, "He somehow talked her into doing something I knew she'd never do! I had friends that I didn't see again after that! We spent the three years in the forest trying to pick up the pieces of our lives! You think I'm just going to let him away? I'm not going to kick his head in, but I want _answers!_ "

Both adults exchanged worried glances. The studied Carol carefully for signs of weakness. Carol didn't give them an inch. She wasn't about to give them any indication that she didn't know what she was doing.

"Ok," Torque said. His voice quavered slightly, "He was heading for the front of the camp. I think he's going to…"

Carol turned to start after him before Torque could finish.

"Carol?"

Neera's voice wavered. Carol came to a halt. Now that she'd got her way, she was willing to give her a second.

"Be careful," she warned, "That's the King's brother… and he used to be my friend. Don't do something either of you will regret."

Carol didn't know how to respond to that. Neera and Spade were the last two people she expected to have a connection. As she slowly absorbed the implications of that, she gave Neera a slow nod.

"Right." she said.

With that, she turned tail and ran off into the camp. Carol scrambled for the front gates.

"Wait, Miss!" the soldier who was supposed to be escorting her cried, "You're supposed to be under…"

"She's gone, private." Neera observed quietly.

The soldier buried his face in his hand. Milla wavered where she stood. She turned to the others for guidance.

"Better go after her, Milla," Torque said quietly, "Just in case."

Milla didn't need asking twice. She took off after Carol on all fours. She was out of sight and around a corner in moments as she sprinted down the hill towards the edge of camp. Torque and Neera watched them go. For a few moments, neither of them spoke.

"You knew the King's son?" Torque asked.

His voice was full of quiet shock. He knew he was making conversation more than anything else. Neera didn't meet his gaze. Instead, she looked out over the camp to the ice beyond.

"I was adopted into the priesthood when I was young," she explained, "We were fairly close to the royals, and I became a sort of family friend… so I got to know the princes pretty well. At least…"

She lent on her staff and stared at the floor.

"…I thought I knew them," she finished, "I guess Spade thought he knew me too."

Silence fell.

 _Was he always called Spade?_ Torque wondered.

He shuddered a little in the cold.

"We should probably get after them too," he decided.

"Right."

They set off after the girls as fast as they could.

* * *

Carol sprinted through the camp. She leapt over rocks, ducked between tents and rushed through crowds of passing soldiers. Several had to get out of her way in a hurry. She reached the front of the camp. Carol searched for Spade amongst the crowds entering and leaving the base. Spade wasn't amongst them. He would have stood out.

 _Shoot,_ she thought, _Has he already left?_

She ran up to the soldiers manning the barricades.

"Did you see a panda with a red scarf come through here?" She asked.

Breathless desperation tainted her voice. A soldier from Shang Mu turned to face her.

"Who wants to know?" He asked, obviously suspicious.

"I have to find him!" Carol pleaded, "Did you see him or not?"

The soldier exchanged a glance with some of his colleagues.

"Kid, you probably shouldn't go chasing after Red…"

 _He saw him._

Carol was out through the checkpoint before anyone could respond. A few soldiers called out to her.

"Hey!"

"Is she supposed to leave the camp?"

"Come back! It's not…"

The camp had been built at the side of a large, tarmac thoroughfare leading east to Shuigang and South to the two southern kingdoms. Lots of traffic headed in both directions. Carol didn't even bother checking the road. She knew Spade wouldn't keep to that if he was trying to slip away without notice. She strode to the end of the icy track leading up to the road, and then broke into a sprint across it.

One of Shang Mu's war trucks barely missed her. Carol leapt out her skin as a wing mirror barely cleared her ears. The horn blared.

" _Stone!_ Watch where you're going!"

Carol froze for a second in the middle of the road as the driver's voice broke over her. She stood stock still for several seconds as she processed yet another near-death experience. She'd seen one of those trucks ram through a stone wall and keep going. She slowly regained her composure. Ignoring the increasing number of soldiers she was attracting the attention of, she finished crossing the road. She cast her eyes out over the ice in search of Spade.

"Miss, where are you going?"

"Is she alright?"

"Hey! Are you alright? You shouldn't leave camp right now!"

"Didn't she nearly freeze last time? We should…"

She heard soldiers dismounting from their vehicles behind her. There were so many tracks leading away onto the ice! Dozens of trucks and other vehicles had entered the snowfields on their way to search for Lilac and Milla, and the ice had been smashed into fine powder in places. She stepped forward onto the frozen ground and searched furiously for clues.

 _Come on. He's got to have come through here. Concentrate…_

She saw footprints. Carol shot forwards moments before a concerned sergeant from Shuigang could grip her by the shoulders.

"Hey, wait! Don't go out onto the ice…"

She was already disappearing into the distance.

Carol ran through the snow. She ran with the same determination she had when she was pursuing Lilac, but she ran with more certainty as well. Spade was far more experienced than her, and if she was honest with herself, he scared her with what he could do. She knew, however, that she had one advantage firmly on her side. Wildcats were faster than pandas. Carol was faster than most wildcats. Mathematics, the only academic subject Carol considered herself good at, did the rest. Two objects were on the same line, and one was moving faster. At some point, x had to meet y. It didn't take long. Carol was barely out of breath by the time she saw Spade walking in the distance. She called out to him at the top of her lungs.

" _HEY!"_

Spade came to a halt. Carol watched as he put something away in his pocket.

 _A compass,_ she realised, _He must have been using that to navigate._

He turned to face her.

"You're not getting away that easily," Carol menaced, "I want answers, **now!** "

"Hmmph. You really have gotten smarter," Spade drawled, "I honestly thought you'd be away down the road if you decided to come after me."

He wasn't smiling. Carol balled her fists.

"Can the small talk, Spade. You're going to tell me everything."

"I already told you everything you should have been told from the start," Spade growled, "Lilac had a chance to join the Red Scarves, and she blew it because she couldn't face what she was doing. Instead, she raised the alarm, kidnapped you and spent the next three years cowering in a forest somewhere because she couldn't face what she'd done. She lied to you, she abandoned me, and one of the Scarves involved in the mission was hung. All while the psychopath we were after got away."

Carol stared at Spade in blank shock. Tears began to well up in her eyes as her ears flattened. Spade's demeanour cooled slightly when he saw her response.

"So," he began, audibly subdued, "You're finally realising your hero isn't everything she's cracked up to be. Took you long enough to wake-"

"I hate you."

Spade fell grim with silence. He stared at the hurt and sorrow on Carol's features. She looked out at him through narrowed slits. It took all her self-restraint just to hold herself back.

"She trusted you. She would have tried to do just about anything you asked, even if she knew she wasn't ready! You should have known she wasn't ready for something like this. _It's your fault she ran away!"_

Spade folded his arms impatiently.

"I wouldn't have expected you to have that much perspective. Tell me, Carol, how old are you now? You must be around the same age she was when all of this went down. How is what I did any different to what Lilac asked you to do for her?"

Carol had to bite back a sob when she realised she didn't have an easy answer to that.

"That… that was different," she insisted weakly, "Lilac never asked me to commit murder."

"You're right," Spade acknowledged, "She asked you to commit suicideinstead."

Carol was reduced to stunned and shattered silence. It took all her self-control just to avoid breaking down in front of him. Spade sighed as he moved in for the kill.

"You know… I've hated the last three years as well. I spent every day wondering what happened to you two. Even after everything that happened, the Scarves still put out a search to try to find out where you'd gone. We spent a month searching, and so did our sister organisations in Shuigang and Shang Mu.

Carol stared at the ice in silence. Spade continued.

"After the first month, almost everyone assumed that you'd either starved to death somewhere or fled the Kingdoms altogether. Some of us still put out calls from time to time. We didn't just abandon you to your fate, Carol. A lot of people were looking for a long time."

 _She's not a bad person. She just didn't know…_

She lifted her head slightly as Spade took something out of his pocket. She couldn't see what it was for her tears. He chucked it at her feet.

"Look…" Spade began, "I already made the mistake of talking about the Scarves somewhere and in front of someone I probably shouldn't've. If you want to find out what really happened that night, you know where to find us. Present this to the camera, and don't try to enter. I'd rather you didn't get cut to pieces trying to pull the same crazy stunt you pulled last time…"

He turned to leave.

"Until we meet again, Carol."

He began to walk away… but Carol couldn't leave it there.

"Spade!"

She was trembling when Spade turned to face her. He waited for her patiently.

"She… she's not a bad person, Spade. She just got scared. I know she gets scared, even if she tries so hard not to show it. She tries so hard."

She fell silent for a moment.

"She was really, really lonely with just me around. I… think there were a lot of things she really needed to be able to talk about."

That could just as easily been applied to herself. She knew that, and Spade knew it too. He closed his eyes and looked away for a second as he let out a heavy sigh.

"I know, Carol," he said sadly, "The one thing I've never called her is a bad person. The problem with Lilac is she sees the world how it should be… exactly as it should be. Once she sees that, she can't think to do anything other than try to make it that way. She doesn't understand that sometimes things _can't_ end that way, and that some people are better off met with a knife to the gut instead of a handshake. That's how a lot of people think, and it's what makes her a good person. It's also what makes her unable to be a Scarf. We have to cross lines sometimes, and she couldn't cross it… and I know she tried very hard to ensure you never had to cross it either."

He was silent for a moment.

"For what it's worth, Carol… she seems to have done a much better job with you than I did with her."

Carol stared. She hadn't heard anyone describe Lilac so well in her life. She listened as Spade continued.

"There's a worrying pattern emerging here," he observed, "I needed to do something, and I needed help to do it, so I asked my best friend, Lilac, to help me… even though she wasn't ready. Three years later, she needed your help, and you gave it. I bet you felt you weren't really ready either."

He peered off into the distance behind Carol. Carol turned. She could see Milla bounding towards them.

 _I'm surprised it took her so long._ she registered dully.

"Some time from now, I wonder if you're going to need help. And I wonder if you're going to have to ask your friend for help too. I never finished my assassination training, Carol, and my life has been a mess ever since that day. Lilac was probably in trouble before all of this hit. And I'm afraid you're going to meet a sticky end yourself if you stay on the path I think you might be on. For your own sake and hers, I hope you break the cycle."

A thick vine of fear wound its way around Carol's heart as a snowstorm started to hit. She watched as Spade wandered off into the encroaching mists. She wanted to say something, to reach the end of a conversation she felt hadn't reached its conclusion, yet she realised it probably didn't have a conclusion. What was there left to say? She shivered as she watched him say goodbye and disappear into the snow. Moments later, Spade was gone.

Carol knew Milla had reached her side a little while ago. She was standing a short distance away, silent as always. They both shivered in the wind. Carol knew that she was going to have to turn around and get them both back to camp before the snowstorm could get any worse. She couldn't.

She couldn't stop thinking about Spade's last warning.

 _Lilac was probably in trouble before all of this hit._

She remembered Lilac's last ear-piercing scream… what she'd done before. The full realisation finally hit her.

 _She thinks she's killed someone. She's not going to be ok._

The snowstorm continued to intensify. Carol needed to move… but she felt trapped, stuck…

…on the verge of panic.

* * *

Milla watched Carol continue to stand there in the snow. She expected her to take the lead. She always took the lead. She always knew what to do. This time, she didn't seem able to. Milla didn't know how to approach.

So, finally, she forced herself to speak.

"Carol?"

An electric shock seemed to run through Carol. She staggered round. Frost had already formed in her fur, and she looked dazed with shock.

Her eyes were red with tears.

Milla clammed up as soon as she'd spoken. It had just been a moment's conversation. She didn't feel ready to do it again. Just getting Carol moving was enough. She held out her hand. Carol took it. They began to walk back through the snow together. It wasn't long until they found the others.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

I am really sorry about being away so long. I hit a massive stumbling block after the last chapter and lost confidence for a long time. I continued to think about the story, but couldn't decide for months how to actually continue it. I'll hopefully be back on schedule now. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter in any case.


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